Member company: S&T Isktratel
Country or geographical scope: Global
Period: 2022 and beyond
Company type: Vendor/Reseller
Product/service category involved: All broadband equipment
Abstract
To make environmentally responsible decisions, network operators need credible figures about power consumption of the broadband equipment they procure and use.
The introduction of energy-efficiency labels allows them to make well informed decisions and reduce their carbon footprint. The labels state a product's power consumption and the level of compliance with the Code of Conduct on Energy Consumption of Broadband Equipment as a framework for providing credible and comparable data.
S&T Iskratel believes that the whole broadband industry needs to join the initiative, help operators effectively reduce the environmental impact, and take a positive step towards a greener Europe.
Context
With the explosion of data traffic and the energy consumption of data transmissions increasing, undertaking steps to reduce the carbon footprint is the responsibility of the entire telecoms industry. In their effort to reach net zero emission targets, operators' attention has rightly shifted to utilising solutions that are more energy efficient: switching from copper to fibre [1][2], and selecting PON over P2P [3][4].
To make environmentally responsible decisions, operators need credible and comparable figures about power consumption of the broadband equipment they procure and use. At present, however, they have no tools to compare the products – they can receive data from equipment vendors, but there is nothing to help them compare the power-consumption figures. Even worse, they get exposed to misleading information and greenwashing.
Greater levels of transparency are needed.
The task for the entire telecommunications industry – and equipment vendors in particular – is to provide credible and comparable data about power consumption, and facilitate well-informed decisions that will help operators reduce their carbon footprint and environmental impact.
Solutions
The broadband industry already has the framework for credible and comparable power consumption figures in place: The Code of Conduct on Energy Consumption of Broadband Equipment [5] published by the European Commission's Joint Research Centre.
Specifically, the Code of Conduct (CoC) sets the limits of power consumption of broadband equipment, and specifies the test methodology. All (voluntary) signatories commit themselves to achieving the power consumption targets, and to publicly disclosing power consumption of their broadband equipment.
After having signed the Code of Conduct in early 2022, S&T Iskratel has fully committed itself to ensuring that its broadband-access equipment complies with the limits on power consumption imposed by the code, and to providing full disclosure and transparency to customers, users and general public.
For the operators, credible power-consumption figures are the first piece in the puzzle. S&T Iskratel has decided to make a step forward and provide also the “missing piece of the jigsaw” to unlocking a greener Europe and reducing operators’ carbon footprints, and introduce energy-efficiency labels.
In addition to power consumption (which is measured following test methods in the CoC), the labels state the product's level of CoC compliance, provided as a percentage of the limit set by the CoC. Similar in design to those used for energy classes of domestic appliances, the labels are easy to read and understand for operators and end-users alike.
The two labels below provide examples for labels of a compact OLT and of a home gateway.
S&T Iskratel is committed to label all its new broadband equipment; specifically, Iskratel Lumia optical line terminals and Iskratel Innbox customer-premises equipment. The labelling improves credibility and comparability, and allows operators to make well informed decisions when selecting products to put into their network.
S&T Iskratel believes that undertaking the steps to reduce the global warming is the responsibility of the entire telecommunications industry, and that everyone in the value chain – vendors, operators, end users, regulators and authorities – must participate in reducing the carbon footprint of their activities.
S&T Iskratel repeatedly calls on the whole industry to join the initiative and take a positive step towards a greener Europe with industry-wide adoption of energy-efficiency labelling. This will help operators and end users correctly estimate the contribution of electricity generation to their overall carbon footprint, and effectively reduce their negative impact on the environment.
Results
Since spring 2022 when the initiative was first presented, S&T Iskratel received impressively positive feedback from European operators. Their interest has proven that they understand their responsibility in contributing to limiting the global warming, and that they understand the role of their equipment vendors in the supply chain.
Besides lower carbon footprint as a result of deploying lower-consumption equipment, operators benefit from lower electricity costs. As a standout example, an established and rapidly growing full-fibre operator has realised that the investment in switching to S&T Iskratel's OLTs with record-low power consumption returns in 3-5 years, solely thanks to the energy savings. The operator's investment decision was based (also) on credibility of figures on the product's energy-efficiency label.
Conclusions
While operators understand that switching from copper to fibre (and to PON in particular) can reduce their energy consumption and the related carbon footprint by orders of magnitude, they still lack the tools to compare various vendors' products. Widespread, industry-wide adoption of energy-efficiency labelling will address the need, allowing operators to follow their sustainability strategy, avoid the traps of greenwashing and base decisions exclusively on credible and comparable data.
Further reading
[1] Whitepaper "Telecom Environmental Sustainability", https://www.iskratel.com/en/resources/white-papers-and-articles/telecom-environmental-sustainability
[2] Blog "Environmental sustainability: Are you a part of the solution?", https://www.iskratel.com/en/resources/industry-insights/y2020/m04/1159-Environmental-sustainability-Are-you-a-part-of-the-solution
[3] Whitepaper "FTTH: A Catalyst for Sustainable Action", https://www.iskratel.com/en/resources/white-papers-and-articles/ftth-a-catalyst-for-sustainable-action
[4] Blog "Deploying the right fibre-access technology to unlock a more sustainable future", https://www.iskratel.com/en/resources/industry-insights/y2021/m11/1312-Deploying-the-right-fibre-access-technology-to-unlock-a-more-sustainable-future
[5] Code of Conduct on Energy Consumption of Broadband Equipment, https://e3p.jrc.ec.europa.eu/publications/eu-code-conduct-energy-consumption-broadband-equipment-version-80-current-version-valid
Contact
Tomo Bogataj, Head of Broadband Marketing, S&T Iskratel
t.bogataj@snt-iskratel.si