Eurobites: BT takes mast off-grid as it turns to renewables

Also in today's EMEA regional roundup: TIM exec's office raided by Italian finance police; Nokia opens innovation hub in Morocco; Proximus goes drone-detecting.

Paul Rainford, Assistant Editor, Europe

October 23, 2024

3 Min Read
BT's self-powering mast in the Shropshire Hills
BT's self-powering mast in the Shropshire Hills runs on wind, rain and hydrotreated vegetable oil fuel.(Source: BT)
  • UK operator BT has switched on its first "self-powering" mobile site, which is able to generate around 70% of its energy needs through on-site solar panels and wind turbine. The renewable energy charges the batteries that power the mast but if there is insufficient renewable energy available and the battery power is fully discharged, a generator powered by hydrotreated vegetable oil fuel – made from waste and residual oils – kicks in to simultaneously provide backup power to the mast and charge to the batteries. BT expects the site to provide around 17,000kWh of wind and solar energy per year as well as cost savings of at least £10,000 (US$12,954). The site is located in the Shropshire Hills, in central England.

  • Italian finance police have raided the office of an unnamed Telecom Italia (TIM) exec on suspicion of bribery offenses. In a statement, TIM said it will cooperate with the investigators to "determine any possible liability to the detriment of the company." MarketScreener reports that shares in TIM had fallen 2.37% by 9.25 a.m. on Wednesday morning in the wake of the news.

  • Nokia has opened an Innovation Center in Morocco, its first in the region. The facility is intended as a regional hub to serve EMEA customers, and is equipped with technologies from Nokia's network infrastructure range, including fixed, IP and optical networks. It will also offer practical training to engineering schools and universities.

  • Telefónica's chairman and CEO, José María Álvarez-Pallete, has been re-elected as the chair of the GSMA industry lobby group until December 2026. He was first elected to the role in February 2022.

  • Separately, the GSMA has published its State of Mobile Internet Connectivity 2024 report, which does what it says on the tin, region by region. In Europe & Central Asia, only 1% of the region's population remained uncovered by mobile broadband by the end of 2023, though 24% of those who were covered still did not use it. By contrast, in Sub-Saharan Africa, 13% of the population are still not reached by mobile broadband, and 60% of those who live within the footprint of a mobile broadband network choose not to use mobile broadband services.

  • Go-ahead Finnish operator Elisa has launched a home energy storage service intended to protect residential properties from expensive spikes in electricity prices. The system automatically charges residential batteries when prices are low, and if the household has solar panels it can also connect to them, storing electricity produced by the panels during the day for use in the evening and early morning, when the sun is not shining, and electricity spot prices are usually high. The residential system is based on Elisa's Distributed Energy Storage (DES) solution, an AI-driven virtual power plant that is also used to optimize batteries in Elisa's mobile network basestations.

  • Belgium's Proximus is getting into the drone-detection game, teaming up with Senhive, an airspace technology company, and SkeyDrone, a drone service provider, to market a system that can spot and deal with unauthorized drones in sensitive places such as industrial plants, airports and prisons. Senhive's drone-detection sensors will be strategically installed on appropriate telecom towers, allowing the coverage of the detection network to be gradually extended.

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About the Author

Paul Rainford

Assistant Editor, Europe, Light Reading

Paul is based on the Isle of Wight, a rocky outcrop off the English coast that is home only to a colony of technology journalists and several thousand puffins.

He has worked as a writer and copy editor since the age of William Caxton, covering the design industry, D-list celebs, tourism and much, much more.

During the noughties Paul took time out from his page proofs and marker pens to run a small hotel with his other half in the wilds of Exmoor. There he developed a range of skills including carrying cooked breakfasts, lying to unwanted guests and stopping leaks with old towels.

Now back, slightly befuddled, in the world of online journalism, Paul is thoroughly engaged with the modern world, regularly firing up his VHS video recorder and accidentally sending text messages to strangers using a chipped Nokia feature phone.

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