GSMA Launches Mobile Energy Efficiency Network Benchmarking Service

By Gsma, PRNE
Monday, November 15, 2010

Initiative to help the mobile industry lower annual energy bill of $35 billion and reduce MNOs' carbon emissions

HONG KONG, November 17, 2010 - The GSMA today announced that it is launching the Mobile Energy
Efficiency (MEE) Network Benchmarking Service, an initiative that will
provide a benchmark measurement of network energy efficiency, and will help
mobile network operators (MNOs) lower their energy costs and carbon
footprint. With this information, it is now possible to identify the scale of
potential efficiency gains and develop programmes to achieve these savings.

"Just a year ago we issued Mobile's Green Manifesto, which outlined the
industry's plans to lower greenhouse gas emissions per connection by 40 per
cent by 2020. The GSMA's mobile energy efficiency benchmarking service is a
key enabler to achieving this goal," said Gabriel Solomon, Senior Vice
President, Public Policy, GSMA.

Approximately 80 per cent of the industry's energy consumption is in the
network, and energy costs are also becoming one of the largest components of
network operational costs for MNOs. Given this, energy efficiency solutions,
such as the MEE service, are becoming a strategic priority.

Created in cooperation with China Mobile, Telefonica and Telenor, the MEE
service will:

    - Quantify cost and CO2e savings for MNOs;
    - Promote a consistent methodology for benchmarking network energy
      efficiency along with common KPIs;
    - Collate industry data and benchmark outputs to enable MNOs to measure
      themselves externally and internally, quantifying potential efficiency
      gains; and
    - Coordinate across the industry and with regulatory stakeholders, so
      that the benchmarking methodology is adopted as a global standard.

"China Mobile is committed to improving equipment efficiency in order to
reduce the consumption and costs of energy, thus reducing carbon emissions
and aligning to the GSMA's objectives. China Mobile has formulated seven
leading world energy rating standards used for procurement that guide
equipment vendors in the development of low power consumption solutions,"
said a senior executive for CMCC.

"We spent the last decade measuring, comparing and improving the energy
efficiency of our Telefonica Operating Businesses in the different countries
we are present. It is now key for us to be part of this larger, industry-wide
exercise towards more sustainable telecom networks," said Gabriel Bonilha,
Network Transformation Manager, Telefonica.

"The output from the Mobile Energy Efficiency service will be adding
significant value to the approach Telenor is taking to manage the energy
usage across Telenor's networks," said Harald Birkeland, International Energy
Adviser, Telenor Group.

To date, it has been challenging to make meaningful comparisons of mobile
networks that, for instance, incorporate different technologies, use
different types of power, or are located in countries with different
population densities, geographies and climates. The MEE methodology has been
devised to "normalise" or adjust energy KPIs for factors outside an MNO's
control in order to make different networks comparable. For this reason, the
methodology focuses on operational energy consumption and not on other
lifecycle energy measures such as embedded energy in equipment. After
normalisation, it is possible to see which networks are over or under-
performing in terms of energy consumption and management, and where there
might be significant potential to reduce energy costs and emissions.

The methodology benchmarks mobile networks by comparing four KPIs:

    - Mobile network energy consumption per mobile connection;
    - Mobile network energy consumption per cell site;
    - Mobile network energy consumption per unit mobile traffic and
    - Mobile network energy consumption per unit mobile revenue.

MEE is part of the GSMA's holistic approach to the environment and
complements the activities of Green Power for Mobile (GPM), which is
advancing the use of renewable energy to power base stations Within GPM the
Community Power from Mobile Programme aims to catalyse the deployment of
power to previously unserved remote, off-grid areas by leveraging rural
mobile networks as primary customers, and using excess power generate to
serve local communities.

About the GSMA

The GSMA represents the interests of the worldwide mobile communications
industry. Spanning 219 countries, the GSMA unites nearly 800 of the world's
mobile operators, as well as more than 200 companies in the broader mobile
ecosystem, including handset makers, software companies, equipment providers,
Internet companies, and media and entertainment organisations. The GSMA is
focused on innovating, incubating and creating new opportunities for its
membership, all with the end goal of driving the growth of the mobile
communications industry.

For more information, please visit Mobile World Live, the new online
portal for the mobile communications industry, at
www.mobileworldlive.com or the GSMA corporate website at
www.gsmworld.com.

Brian Paterson, +852-9755-3310, or Tracy Cheung, +852-9366-7761, mac at ebacomms.com, or Daniel Lowther, +44-7747-636-687, press at gsm.org

YOUR VIEW POINT
NAME : (REQUIRED)
MAIL : (REQUIRED)
will not be displayed
WEBSITE : (OPTIONAL)
YOUR
COMMENT :