EXECUTIVE
INSIGHT
ZTE
Could regulation and taxes on the use of older network equipment
play a part in the move to more energy efficient infrastructure?
s a manufacturer and supplier quirements, for example to provide [meas-
A
of telecoms equipment you ures of] how much CO2 will be used if
‘Technical obstacles
would expect China’s ZTE to they use new generation equipment. They
stress the role new network have a very targeted CO2 reduction [and are all about
technologies can play in increasing the are clear about] how much they’d like to
energy efficiency of an operator’s infra- reduce,” he says.
regulation’
structure. But there is much to be said for Access networks are key: Liu says they
the argument: operators such as Telenor account for 70% of a radio network’s en-
Liu Meigang
expect large energy savings from replac- ergy consumption and around 40% for
ing old infrastructure. a fixed network. “When talking about and Information Technology to reduce its
The Chinese manufacturer believes greenhouse reduction, access network power consumption by 20% by the end
Europe’s regulators also have an impor- occupies most [of the conversation],” he of 2012, saving 11.8 billion Kilowatts per
tant role to play in making network up- says. In particular, Liu contends that “for hour of electricity. With the support of
grades economically attractive. “Technical the basestation the active antenna inno- the Chinese government, China Mobile
obstacles are all about regulation,” says vation should be very important for op- says among its commitments it will deploy
Liu Meigang, senior architect engineer erators”. One of the notable advantages of wind power, solar power for its basesta-
at ZTE. In particular, Liu points to the active antennas is their ability to accomo- tions, as well as use energy saving tech-
European Commission’s lack of clear date several mobile standards operating at nology in its networks.
and uniform regulation on fibre network different frequencies. ZTE, which integrates solar panels
build, which he says is in sharp contrast to In December ZTE said it had installed into some of its basestations, says the cost
China’s policy to promote FTTx construc- for China Unicom a 3G basestation site today means solar energy only makes eco-
tion. “We have an optical sharing policy that runs on a mix of wind and solar en- nomic sense for basestations located away
[in China]. We think operators need clear ergy. The site, which is based between the from an electricity grid. However, Liu
and definite instructions from govern- mountains in the Great Meisha area of believes this will change in the next two
ments,” says Liu. “There is a real obstacle Shenzhen, is operated by remote control to three years, making solar energy eco-
to FTTx in Europe. In China even in a vil- to minimise site visits and can be config- nomically feasible even for operators lo-
lage there is optical fibre.” ured to match weather conditions, accord- cated near grids. “The unit cost for solar
And even if the process of replacing ing to ZTE. The company says the system panels is reucing dramatically,” he says.
copper networks with fibre initially cre- produces no emissions or noise, and re- Other changes will include a more ef-
ates emissions, fibre networks make more quires no on-site manpower support. ficient use of shared computing sources
efficient use of energy. Their positive en- Other advances and practices can help across flatter, IP networks, as well as ma-
vironmental impact is even greater if op- to reduce an operator’s power consump- chine-to-machine communications. “If a
erators switch off legacy equipment. tion, including the smartpower shutdown customer wants to operate more networks
“Fibre can avoid jitter loss in copper, of both wireless and wireline networks they need to reduce the number of data
so you don’t need intermediate equip- when they are not in use. Mobile opera- centres and reduce the layers of network,
ment to boost power,” says Liu. “If you tors, for example, can deploy networking [and make them] flatter,” says Liu.
use new technology you will change the software to turn off transponders. “In bas- But despite new technologies, ZTE
network topology and will eliminate some estations at night the traffic is low so [op- runs into the same problems as both its
legacy layers and equipment. It helps erators] don’t need all transponders on,” competitors and its customers: a lack of
power efficiency of the core network.” says Liu. Operators could also cut down standards. “Each operator has its own
ZTE even goes so far as to suggest that on the use of cooling mechanisms by run- methodology…With Orange and Telenor
“governments could tax” the users of ning equipment in higher temperature we need to discuss methodology, particu-
older equipment “to [favour] new equip- environments, he says. larly per user,” says Liu. “In the Nordic
ment” installations and the phasing out of Like others in the industry, ZTE pro- areas [operators] follow the WRI—[the
energy-hungry networks. motes the use of solar panels in emerging World Resource Institute, an environmen-
But even without regulation, operators markets, and the Chinese government, tal think-tank based in Washington]—but
are taking initiatives to lower their carbon says Liu, is heavily promoting invest- BT and Orange also have some different
footprint. Liu cites Orange, Telenor and ment in renewable energy sources. In definitions.” He adds: “It is necesary [for
Vodafone as examples of operators that November, China Mobile signed an the industry] to define the standard unit
“even this year have more pragmatic re- agreement with the Ministry of Industry methodology”. n
TOTAL TELECOM ENVIRONMENT SPECIAL
19
Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36