Towards a Net Zero Telecoms Network
Client: Connected Places Catapult (consortium of five Catapults)
Project: Energy Efficient Networks
Sector: Telecoms
Service: Technical Director
Challenge
Telecoms networks can play a part in achieving the transition to net zero by supporting the substitution of carbon-intensive products and processes with digitised, virtual services. Networks themselves are major consumers of energy, and network owners and the ecosystem around them must address energy consumption and efficiency issues particularly as network usage increases: according to industry body GSMA telecom services, excluding data centres, are thought to account for about 1.5-2.0% of developed market energy consumption; network data traffic is expected to more than triple in most regions of the world by 2027.
Our Role & Impact
As Technical Director for the Connected Places Catapult, we led a discovery team to explore the opportunities across two key use cases, connected vehicles and connected rail, and working with the other Catapults to deliver a suite of recommendations for policymakers and ecosystem stakeholders.
A cross-Catapult consortium (Connected Places, Compound Semiconductor Applications, Digital, Energy Systems and Satellite Applications) worked to address the question by looking at network architectures, technologies and use cases. The consortium identified fourteen recommendations for action covering technology, data, policy and ecosystems, that were launched at TechUK in 2023.
“Urban Frontiers came on to lead a consortium project around energy efficient networks. Despite the loosely defined scope at the beginning, they worked with partners and the ultimate client to translate it into a well defined project that delivered real value and has enabled future work in this area.”
