“Green transformation is not just about energy efficiency, but also enhances network robustness, eliminates the digital divide, awakens dormant assets, enabling green economy and smart development.” On October 12th, during the Green Development Forum held at the Global Operator Transformation Summit (OTF2023), Zhou Xiaohua, President of Huawei’s Service and Software Marketing and Solutions Department, stated that green transformation is timely, and early transformation leads to early benefits. Let’s take proactive action and jointly promote the green upgrade of the ICT industry, injecting new energy into the development of the digital economy.
There is a type of green site that is not only environmentally friendly but also resilient; even in the face of a strong earthquake, it can operate stably. There is a type of green CO that not only saves electricity and space but also expands business and increases revenue. There is a type of green DC that not only has a low PUE but is also easy to deploy, expand, and operate, supporting smooth evolution and business development in the future. At this forum, numerous global operators shared their latest green transformation practice cases, broadening horizons and outlining a clear best path for the industry’s green transformation.
01
Enhancing Network Resilience with Green Sites
Turkey enjoys year-round sunshine and is well-known as a holiday destination. It is also one of the most seismically active regions globally. These unique characteristics, coupled with rising traditional energy prices, make solar energy and earthquake resistance particularly significant for Turkish society. I remember in February this year when Turkey experienced its strongest earthquake in a century, a large number of solar panels were sent to the disaster area, promptly meeting the needs of the affected people for lighting, heating, and mobile phone charging. Today, wireless sites that provide connectivity services to this land are also equipped with solar energy and earthquake-resistant capabilities.
“After an earthquake, in the event of a power grid interruption, Huawei’s end-to-end green site solution makes full use of solar energy, supporting site operation for 6 to 8 hours per day, establishing a communication lifeline for disaster relief and the lives of the affected people,” the Turkish operator’s vivid example tells us that an excellent green site is not only more energy-efficient and environmentally friendly but also enhances network resilience, providing more stable communication services to society.
This is not an isolated case. In South Africa, power outages are frequent, sometimes lasting two to three days, forcing operators to rely on diesel generators for extended periods to keep base stations running, resulting in long-term high carbon emissions and energy costs. At the same time, due to the low energy efficiency of traditional outdated energy infrastructure, frequent power-related faults put pressure on operators, leading to unstable network services and rising operation and maintenance costs.
Faced with these challenges, South African operators, in collaboration with Huawei, have undertaken end-to-end green transformations of traditional sites. By incorporating photovoltaics, optimizing power efficiency, and introducing intelligent operation and maintenance technologies, they have significantly reduced carbon emissions. Network availability has improved by 30%, network traffic has increased by 47%, and the annual revenue for each site has increased by $66,000, achieving the triple benefits of energy conservation, emissions reduction, network reliability, and increased revenue.
Another case is in Cameroon, where operators have addressed the challenge of providing power to remote mountainous areas. They have rapidly expanded wireless network coverage based on Huawei’s innovative rural site and solar power solutions, bringing connectivity to previously unconnected areas, and bridging the digital divide for more people.
02
Revitalizing Dormant Assets with Green CO Power
As a crucial node for providing fixed broadband services, the CO (Central Office) room is a valuable asset for telecom operators. Facing future network and business development trends, CO rooms are primarily challenged by two key factors. On one hand, with the rise of large video services like 4K, 8K, and VR/AR, there is a surge in network data traffic, demanding a significant increase in network bandwidth and higher energy efficiency for CO rooms. On the other hand, with the shift towards network convergence and the integration of IT and networking, traditional CO rooms will introduce new IT equipment to enhance service quality and facilitate more diverse and convenient services, presenting new challenges for their capacity.
In response to these new trends and challenges, and to move closer to their carbon neutrality goals, Openserve, South Africa’s largest telecom infrastructure provider, has collaborated with Huawei to undertake an end-to-end green transformation of their CO rooms. This transformation addresses issues related to outdated equipment, high energy consumption, frequent power outages, and excessive diesel generator usage. It involves measures such as the retirement of old equipment, network evolution, modernizing energy systems, and incorporating solar power, resulting in green energy savings and sustainable business development.
The results of this transformation were immediate and substantial. By retiring outdated equipment like SDH and PSTN and upgrading to next-gen equipment like XGS-PON, energy consumption was reduced by 80%, and 90% of the room space was freed up. Network bandwidth was increased by a factor of 100, laying a solid foundation for future business development. Additionally, the incorporation of solar power significantly decreased the usage of diesel generators.
03
Green Data Centers Empowering the Global Digital Economy
Data centers, as the core infrastructure for data, computing, and applications, play a pivotal role in the development of digitization and intelligence. They are also significant consumers of traditional energy. In the current global wave of digitization and intelligence, driven by technological advancements like network convergence and AI’s large models, new applications are growing rapidly. This trend presents limitless opportunities to the industry but also places increasing demands on data centers in terms of energy efficiency, computational power, and performance. Moreover, with the emergence of low-latency, highly reliable services, a multitude of distributed edge data centers are rising, bringing new requirements for rapid deployment, flexible expansion, and easy operational management to traditional data centers. Therefore, the development of data centers not only requires a focus on being green and low-carbon but also the ability to support smooth evolution and rapid business growth.
In this regard, Chinese operators have set an example for the industry. Faced with the new blue ocean of the digital economy, one such operator has positioned its IDC (Internet Data Center) as “1 hub and 4 centers” and is dedicated to providing customers with full-stack products and solutions encompassing “computing power + network + applications.” In terms of green transformation, they have effectively reduced energy consumption through intelligent operational management platforms, advanced cooling technologies, flexible resource allocation, energy-efficient building solutions, and more. This has resulted in achieving a Power Usage Effectiveness (PUE) of less than 1.3 and significantly improved space resource utilization. This not only translates into energy savings, emissions reduction, and cost-effectiveness but also prepares the ground for sustained business development in the future.
04
Infrastructure Revamp: Seizing the Moment
As we enter the era of green intelligence, the telecommunications industry carries the social responsibility of energy conservation and emissions reduction while also facing the pressure to reduce costs and improve efficiency. Moreover, as digitization and intelligence rapidly advance and a multitude of new services emerge, the telecommunications industry is presented with significant opportunities for development. Given these multiple demands, how can the telecommunications industry achieve a harmonious balance of “having it all”? Clearly, the examples provided above offer a reference path for the industry’s green transformation.
05
Words in the End
In summary, this path primarily involves two key directions. First, the shift from “saving money” to “making money”: Given the current challenges of high energy consumption, carbon emissions, low reliability, and an inability to support business evolution in the existing infrastructure, the telecommunications industry should seize the opportunity of the times. It should balance green initiatives with development, creating a new type of infrastructure that is green, intelligent, efficient, practical, secure, and reliable. This will enable the industry to respond to energy conservation and carbon reduction policies while supporting sustainable, high-quality business development in the future. Secondly, the transition from green sites to a green network: By leveraging the synergy of green sites, green Central Offices (COs), green Data Centers (DCs), and other domains, the telecommunications industry can construct a holistic green network, achieving an overall optimal solution.
