IAFI hosts global workshop on challenges & opportunities in Green Telecom

ITU-APT Foundation of India (IAFI) hosted a virtual workshop on “Green Telecom” in partnership with Digital Infrastructure Providers Association (DIPA) on the Airtel BlueJeans platform.

T.R. Dua, Chairman, ITU-APT profoundly welcomed all the esteemed speakers and introduced the importance of the “Green Telecom” & the role played by the telecom fraternity.

K Rajaraman, Secretary-DoT & Chairman Digital Communications Commission, was the Chief Guest at the event. He emphasized on “Minimizing the Environmental load caused by the ICT services and Maximizing on the Environmentally load reduction caused by the ICT solutions. He concluded by explaining the role of government in the greening of the sector by optimal use of the data centers and the associated equipment, leveraging technology, and use of renewable sources of energy for powering these installations.

ITU-APT Foundation of India (IAFI) President Bharat Bhatia expressed his happiness regarding the cabinet’s decision on the importance of private 5G and how 5G will bring environmentally sustainable innovations.

The workshop was under the moderatorship of Vimal Wakhlu, Vice President, IAFI who elucidated the importance of E-waste management steps that need to be followed in terms of green manufacturing, the recurring challenges of green telecom associated with data centers and framework for a circular economy.

Sanjeev Kumar, CMD, TCIL spoke on the stepping stones of green telecom via solar panels, VLRA batteries & spectrum reformation by active spectrum sharing and technology neutral spectrum, which means same operator can use the same spectrum for 2G, 3G, 4G followed a dynamic spectrum and the new liquid immersive cooling technology which that been uprising in terms of usage as the way forward to an immersive idea of Green Telecom through network designing and active equipment sharing.

Harwesh Bhatiya, Member-Services, DoT, who was the Guest of Honour at this workshop. He took the floor elucidating 2 macro factors in Green Telecom, Technology and Environment saying both of these factors work hand-in-hand as they complement each other.

Session 2 of the workshop was on the theme of efforts by the key stakeholders, and the technical session was kickstarted by T. R. Dua, DG, DIPA. He presented his views on Green Energy- Paradigm to Sustainability, by providing a crux on Energy as a Service (EaaS) Model, as ESCO (Energy Service Company) takes control of the supply of power to mobile infrastructure in an area. tESCO can use cleaner more renewable technology and surplus power to supply homes and businesses in the area, he said.

Subsequently the floor was taken over by Vikram Tiwathia, DDG, COAI, who gave an overview of the current status on Green Telecom in terms of Grid Power, Battery backup and RET further emphasied on initiatives taken by Telecom Service Providers (TSP) clubbed with measures for a Sustainable Telecom Network through Ocean/Tidal Energy, Biomass Energy and Solar energy.

Steven Moore, Head of Climate Action for GSMA spoke on Mobile Carbon Emissions Comparison coupled with Sustainable Network Equipment required for a Circular economy strategy through optimising the sourcing, reusing and repurposing of existing network equipment. He also gave GSMA’s way forward in terms of adaptation and resilience by 2030-40.

Sanjeev Banzal, Director General, ERNET, focused his presentation on Enhancing Energy Efficiency for Green Telecom and why there is a need to increase the focus on creating sustainable businesses and how there is a multi-layered approach of energy saving in the upcoming 5G era which can be achieved by Energy harvesting and End-to-end intelligent power systems.

Abdul Kayum DDG, 6G Technologies spoke on Green Telecom a need and commitment to cut India’s total projected carbon emission by 1 billion tonnes by 2030, and Net-zero Carbon Emissions by 2070.

Session 3 of the workshop was on the theme of Standardization at International level, which began with Aprajita Sharrma, DDG (BPF) DoT, who is also the Vice Chair, ITU Council Administration speaking on the Green ICTs for development and how the targets of Paris Agreements can be achieved in the right way if there is sensitization of ICTs in mitigation climate change, enhanced and continued use of energy efficiency methods can be achieved through operational costs. Green ICTs takes both direct and indirect methodology to reduce carbon footprint which reduces E-waste which is rising exponentially at the current rate.

Paolo Gemma, senior specialist at Huawei, presented his views on ITU-T Study Group 5: EMF, environment, climate action, sustainable digitalization adding to the points on Carbon data intensity for network energy performance monitoring along with Green House Gas (GHG) emissions intensity indicators for telecom network operators. He concluded by providing a roadmap for setting the environmental requirements for 5G.

Jitendra Singh, Senior Director Qualcomm, elucidated his views on environmental sustainability and a greener economy focusing on the transformative role of 5G in Green Telecom. He said climate change cannot be considered theoretical anymore since there is a rise of E-waste the principles of reduce, recycle, reuse is the way forward. 5G enables a more sustainable future by reducing Green House Gas (GHG) emission along with optimal usage of water management systems.

CT Bureau