How telcos can achieve sustainability with profitability

Global pressure is increasing for telcos to reduce energy and waste and achieve climate-related targets, all while making massive investments in energy-draining 5G spectrum, infrastructure, and supporting technologies. As a result, living up to the hype of 5G performance standards (super-fast speeds, higher throughput, lower latency, enhanced security) and sustainability standards (running a green network while optimizing energy efficiency) has proven to be a challenge. However, initiatives in the telecoms industry do not have to be an either/or proposition, as global technology intelligence firm ABI Research underscores in its latest whitepaper, A Telco Sustainability Reality Check.

“Sustainability and profitability are not mutually exclusive. However, there are a few reality checks to note. In this report, ABI Research highlights an optimistic approach for sustainable telcos of the future while also addressing the tensions, challenges, and issues that confront the industry’s net-zero ambitions,” explains Kim Johnson, Sustainable Technologies Principal Analyst at ABI Research.

A Telco Sustainability Reality Check takes a deep dive into the opportunities and challenges of telco sustainability initiatives and offers a reality check to the most pressing questions, including:

• Breaking the energy curve should be simple, but is it?
• Network reliability versus AI-enabled energy efficiency solutions—can both initiatives be mutually beneficial?
• Can the competing incentives in the mobile device circularity model be balanced?
• Where does technology fit in the telco sustainability equation?

“The bottom line is that efforts can be made to drive mobile industry innovation and conserve resources simultaneously. The industry needs to understand the opportunities and challenges, and once well informed, move forward accordingly,” Johnson concludes.

CT Bureau