T-Mobile touts 5G network sustainability, efficiency

AUSTIN – Big 5G Event – According to Chad Wilkerson, the director of sustainability and infrastructure sourcing at T-Mobile, there are plenty of benefits awaiting the mobile network operators that focus on chasing environmental efficiencies.

But he acknowledged that there are an equal number of challenges.

Regardless, during a keynote presentation here at Light Reading's Big 5G Event, Wilkerson argued that operators that work to embed the topic into their operations stand to reap plenty of gains. Those gains, he said, range from direct cash savings to far less tangible factors like job creation through the support of renewable energy projects.

Ultimately, he argued that a telecom-wide focus on sustainability can become "less of a check the box and more of a differentiator" if pursued in a thoughtful manner.

Cutting the power

To be clear, Wilkerson wasn't the only telecom executive here talking about sustainability broadly and energy reduction specifically. A wide range of vendors – as well as operators including Dish Network – discussed the benefits of reducing mobile network energy usage.

For T-Mobile, Wilkerson said the results can be significant. During his presentation, he said energy-efficient equipment can reduce power consumption by up to 90%. He added that advanced antenna systems can reduce the need for additional cell sites, saving operators up to 50% of cell site leasing costs. Finally, he added that virtualizing network functions can reduce equipment space requirements by up to 90%, thereby cutting operators' tower costs, and that energy management systems in general can cut energy consumption costs by up to 30%.

Figure 1: T-Mobile's Chad Wilkerson discusses sustainability at the Big 5G Event.
(Source: Mike Dano / Light Reading)

Indeed, T-Mobile is working to make the topic a major part of its corporate story. The company maintains a detailed website on its sustainability efforts. And in its network specifically, the company boasts of new features "across approximately half our network sites that enabled our radio-network equipment to optimize energy consumption and drive further efficiencies. This is in addition to the cooling enhancements we've made at select cell sites by replacing air conditioning units with direct air-cooling fans to more efficiently control the on-site temperature of cell towers."

Broadly, T-Mobile said it has managed to reduce its network energy consumption by 14.4% – in terms of electricity per petabyte (PB) of customer data traffic – between 2019 and the end of 2021. The company said it used 349 MWh of energy per PB of data traffic on its network in 2021.

T-Mobile isn't alone. For example, AT&T last year said that turning off unnecessary 5G radios at night could help reduce the operator's annual $1.6 billion network electricity bill.

But networking was just part of Wilkerson's message here.

The bigger picture

Wilkerson argued that sustainability ought to be a part of all of a company's activities. Indeed, he said he's increasingly joining T-Mobile's sales team as they hold discussions with big corporate customers. Those customers are often looking for ways to improve their own sustainability efforts, and are curious at how T-Mobile might contribute to that either directly or indirectly.

"There's all kinds of opportunities for reducing waste in operations," he said.

But he acknowledged that "there is a balance between performance and sustainability," and that mobile network operators and their customers will need to carefully weigh their strategies for both financial success and environmental stewardship.

Broadly, the topic of energy efficiency and sustainability is a big one in corporate circles in general and telecom specifically. While cash savings is obviously a big driver, so too is a desire to garner attention from customers and regulators for being "green."

But there are ongoing questions about how exactly to calculate companies' progress on the topic. While reducing direct energy usage would obviously be a welcome development, it's harder to tabulate other benefits like the jobs that might be created through the purchase of solar power.

Finally, there are plenty of examples of the telecom industry's not-so-stellar interest in environmental topics throughout its history. For example, ProPublica recently published a lengthy look at the role that the FCC has played – and not played – in addressing the environmental impact of cell towers and other network infrastructure. One of its many findings: Only a third of all the tall cell towers in the US have been updated to display flashing lights, instead of always-on lights, in order to prevent birds from killing themselves by crashing into the towers or circling them for hours.

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— Mike Dano, Editorial Director, 5G & Mobile Strategies, Light Reading | @mikeddano