How operators in the Nordics help curb global warming in their wireless 5G networks [Video]

Operators in the Nordics are 5G leaders and have a long-standing commitment to a sustainable and responsible lifestyle. Toby Borison, our Sales Director for the Nordic region tells Dr. Dahlit Brin about what telcos in his region actively do to help reduce carbon emissions in their wireless 5G network to help curb global warming.

Full interview transcript:

Welcome to The Backhaul Lounge. I'm Dahlit Brin, and today I'm joined by my colleague Toby Borrison, who's our sales director for the Nordic region. Toby, the race for 5G is on and with it rising concerns that that means an increased energy consumption. Now, the problem with energy consumption is that it actually leads to CO2 emission, which has a knock-on effect of global warming. Now, the Nordic region are 5G leaders. So, I'm really interested to know what operators in your region do to help curb global warming.

And this is a really interesting topic. When I look at the operators here in the Nordics, they're all extremely focused on cutting their CO2 emissions. In fact, three operators are already climate neutral in the operations as from last year.

Ok, so these sound like really, really great statements; very, very strong commitment. But what does it mean in practice? What actual steps do operators take in order to help reduce CO2 emissions? In the networks.

I mean, what they're looking at is, of course, cutting the power consumption. The less power you consume, the less environmental impact you have.

Right.

But other factors is, of course, also to cut down on transportation.

Ok, so how does that affect their daily operations?

If you picture the Nordics, we can look at Sweden. I mean, Sweden is twice the size of Germany. Where huge areas of low, low populated, …where people, actually, … there are not that many people living there. So the challenge for the operators is how to provide a stable and reliable network for all the people who live there.

So we have very long link distances, is what you're saying,

Very long link distance. And also if there is an issue -if they need to go to the site, it means they need to drive for hours. It could also mean that they need to drive for hours and then get on a snowmobile

Oh, really?

… to go to the site, just to fix a problem.

So can you just help me understand the connection between the snowmobile and the CO2 emission?

Well, it's quite easy. I mean, the longer I need to travel with cars or snowmobiles, the more emissions you actually emit.

Because of the petrol?

The snowmobiles I mean, they're powered by gasoline. And it’s not as controlled as cars. So they actually do emit a lot of pollution.

Ok. All right. Interesting. Now when we are on the topic of transportation, then immediately, to me that says, OK, so I'm trying to minimize whatever I need to transport to the site. How else can I … can I make sure that I use as little equipment as possible to get the capacity they need?

I mean, what you need to look at is that you need to have a solution that, you know, you can work with that will support you from the office, that will actually mean minimize the number of site visits. So let's say that you need to upgrade your capacity because your end customers demand more. Then you don't want to go to the site, do it. You want to do this from where you sit in your office. You don't want to drive for six hours

Right. So we can have our remote upgrade capabilities to help do that

Exactly

So I understand site visits are a huge problem, both in terms of time to market and power consumption. So tell me what in what ways can we help reduce site visits? Not only for repairs, but I'm thinking, well, if I have less stuff to transport, less equipment to put on the tower, then that will have a positive knock-on effect on the CO2 emissions. So what do we have to offer that can help do that?

I mean, of course, if you look at our portfolio and if you look at our new platform, the IP-50 platform It's an all outdoor platform and it goes all the way from 10, All the way up to 10 gigabit. And you can actually fit everything into one radio, which basically means you bring pt one box. And most important is it's cooled by nature. It doesn't require an indoor shelter. It's actually just cooled by the surrounding temperature, which basically means you don't need to add indoor cooling and you don't need to add indoor shelters, etc..

So we actually save in energy in two ways by not having any equipment indoors that need cooling or heating and also by having fewer boxes that need to be powered up. As we've seen, 5G operators play a vital role in helping curb global warming as wireless backhaul becomes even more important with the 5G rollout. There are many ways in which a greener wireless network can help save energy and essentially our planet. Toby, thank you so much for joining us today. This is the Backhaul lounge. See you next time.

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