Will open RAN help tackle Orange's sins of emission? It's complicated...Will open RAN help tackle Orange's sins of emission? It's complicated...

Broadly speaking, Orange wants networks to emit less carbon and use (at least slightly) more open RAN in future, based on Light Reading's recent interviews with the operator's executives. There are overlaps between the two topics, as open RAN can help Orange achieve some of its sustainability goals, although its energy efficiency credentials, while improving, differ based on the context, according to Elisabeth Py, Orange's vice president for green and radio networks.

There is no straight answer as to whether open RAN in general consumes less energy than traditional technology, she said, adding this depends on factors like the architecture and if a site is in an urban or rural area. "So what we can see today, based on our evaluations, is that we tend to be on par at some point, quite soon, when it comes to energy efficiency," she said.

And the picture gets more complicated when it comes to Scope 3 – the emissions arising from a company's supply chain and the use of its products. "What is important for us is to consider the impact of the Scope 3, because it could have also an impact, depending on the architecture, and maybe could be not on par with what we have with the traditional RAN," she said.

Dealing with Scope 3

Scope 3 is the most difficult area of emission reductions for Orange, according to the operator's group CTO, Laurent Leboucher.

One of the main challenges is to create a full lifecycle analysis that would take into account factors like manufacturing and what materials are used.  

Another way to cut Scope 3 emissions relates to what happens when equipment stops being useful. Leboucher said the operator is working to reuse equipment that gets swapped out within Orange's global footprint. He noted it "should become completely normal" to reuse or even sell such equipment, although this remains a challenge.

"We still have to discuss, sometimes a bit strongly, with our partners, but we are progressing with some of them," he said, acknowledging this implies some challenges on the operator side.

Sometimes an operator may not have the processes in place to support the equipment in a different geography with, for example, spare parts, Leboucher said. 

Using open RAN should also make it possible to increase the lifespan of equipment, according to Py. This would mean being able to play with the software and keeping the hardware for longer.

Power struggles

While Orange is also working on this with existing suppliers, Py said some of them are not too keen as "it's not part of their business model, that is more about renewing."

One of the big levers for Orange when it comes to reducing emissions is the sharing of both fixed and mobile infrastructure with other operators, which can "significantly reduce CO2 impact," according to Leboucher. This is being done on the tower but also in active network equipment.

Meanwhile, Py said that network sharing is mainly a business and marketing discussion, adding it brings one particular challenge. "You can no longer differentiate as an operator when you are in a RAN sharing mode, at least on that part of the network experience."

Customer experience differentiation is, however, a priority for Orange. The operator hopes that open RAN and cloud RAN will allow it to "differentiate as an operator with this different software based on the same cloud and hardware infrastructure."

Orange has also previously said open RAN makes RAN sharing easier in general. The operator is using both technologies at a RAN site in Romania in a joint deployment with Vodafone, where Samsung is the sole RAN vendor.

Overall, Orange seems to believe that open RAN is on track to be at least as green if not greener than traditional RAN because it has more levers to use, as Atoosa Hatefi, head of radio innovation at Orange Group, told Light Reading earlier this year.

The company is still working to reach net zero by 2045, with an interim goal of cutting emissions of all scopes by 45% by 2030 compared with 2020 levels. When it comes to Scope 2, the emissions arising from energy consumption, this requires energy efficiency measures, as well as procuring clean energy, Leboucher said. 

For illustration, Light Reading has compiled Orange's historical group emissions data based on annual reporting by the company. Location-based Scope 2 emissions are based on physical power mix on the grid where the power is consumed, while market-based take into account the company's purchasing of energy or products like renewable energy credits.

Orange's emissions in tonnes of CO2 equivalent

(Source: annual financial reports and universal registration documents)

One of the tools Orange is hoping to leverage to reduce energy consumption is AI. The technology can, for example, help organize field technician trips to make them more efficient, Leboucher said. It could also put towers to sleep when not in use.

Py said that the motto at the company is "zero traffic, zero watt," adding that at the moment "we are quite happy that we can reach under 10 watts when there is no traffic."

Scaling up

Open RAN rollout is, however, still in very early stages at Orange, and there are still some issues to sort out. "Open fronthaul with massive MIMO at full scale is perhaps the most challenging," Leboucher said.

Another big challenge involved in open RAN is for smaller companies that cannot spend billions on R&D to build full end-to-end solutions, Leboucher added.

At the moment, use of open RAN is still very small scale at Orange, with Leboucher saying the company is planning to include more sites from next year, adding "I think starting in 2027 it will become bigger in Europe, because we will have also the opportunity to replace older equipment at that time."

Meanwhile, critics may argue that for now open RAN has failed to create significant competition for the big vendors. Asked about this, Py said that it could still bring more vendor diversity on the radio unit (RU) part. "We'll see for the CU, DU part," she added, referring to central and distributed units.