Vodafone and Ericsson have worked together to achieve a 43 per cent reduction in energy consumption as part of a 5G trial in London.
It comes as Vodafone and Ericsson completed the first deployment of a new 5G radio wave in the capital, with Vodafone planning to deploy 1,500 of the new units by April 2022.
The Ericsson antenna-integrated radio solution – the AIR 3227 – was deployed on the roof of Vodafone’s Speechmark office, located in Southwark.
According to Vodafone, its new piece of kit was even able to reduce energy consumption by up to 55 per cent at off-peak times.
Future deployments of new equipment for Vodafone’s 5G network will be easier as the new radio is 51 per cent lighter than the previous generation.
The equipment will also help speed up the rollout of future 4G upgrades on the network.
Vodafone UK chief network officer Andrea Dona said: “Our strategy is simple; turn off anything we don’t need, modernise our network where possible, and use the most energy efficient options available without compromising the service we deliver to our customers.
“The success of this trial allows us to explore new ways we can more effectively manage the energy consumption of our network with our partner Ericsson. There is no silver bullet for managing network energy consumption – it is about putting sustainability at the heart of every decision and adding up all the small gains to make a material difference.”
Ericsson UK and Ireland CTO, networks and managed services Bjorn Odenhammar added: “Sustainability is central to Ericsson’s purpose and our industry-leading new radios will help Vodafone to reduce network energy consumption, simplify network rollout and efficiently manage the expected growth in data traffic of both current and future 5G networks.
“Together we are building the 5G network of the future – one that delivers the highest possible performance with improved resource efficiency and low environmental impacts.”
