‘Device fingerprinting’ to doubling energy efficiency: how the broadband industry can tackle carbon emissions

‘Device fingerprinting’ to doubling energy efficiency: how the broadband industry can tackle carbon emissions

Christele Bouchat (Nokia), BBF Innovation Group Co-Director

Mauro Tilocca (TIM), BBF Vice President and Innovation Group Co-Director

Aligning with Broadband Forum’s strategic vision, the ‘Town Hall Innovation Series’ (THIS) gives a platform for industry leaders and experts to encourage innovative approaches to collaborative working practices and act as a catalyst for new projects.

At Broadband Forum’s Q2 Meeting in Porto, we hosted a THIS session on Sustainability and Energy Efficiency. Speakers explored solutions and innovations that broadband companies can adopt to enhance their sustainability efforts.

Sustainability has taken centre stage for broadband operators and vendors as concerns grow about the telecommunications industry’s contribution to CO2 emissions. The carbon footprint of our connected devices, the internet and the systems supporting them accounts for almost 4% of global greenhouse emissions, nearly double that of the airline industry.

EU collaboration calls and ‘device fingerprinting’  

Paolo Bertoldi, Senior Expert at the European Commission, shed light on the EU Code of Conduct for Broadband Communication Equipment. The code, developed by the European Commission Joint Research Centre, aims to fill the policy vacuum by creating an open dialogue on markets, technologies, efficiencies, and performance. Its goal is to raise awareness among decision-makers and investors, develop easy‑to‑understand metrics, and align with international initiatives.

Bertoldi recognized the positive role that ICT and communication networks can play in reducing the environmental impact in other sectors, such as transport, and buildings. But, he said, more data is needed in the European Commission’s studies to assess the energy consumption of broadband transmission networks and monitor network energy usage.

Gavin Young, Vodafone’s Head of Fixed Access Centre of Excellence, shared an innovative concept aimed at collecting energy consumption information. ‘Device fingerprinting’ – collecting energy consumption data alongside device identification in a home network – can help measure and trace the consumption of single devices. Energy consumption of connected devices can then be analysed and acted upon. This would not only help cut emissions, but also costs for customers and could deliver new revenue opportunities.

Young recognized that standardization is essential to make the concept of energy fingerprinting a reality. There is an opportunity for broadband operators, namely through leveraging TR-369/USP plus associated TR-181 data models, to have an accurate and granular insight of the home as the number of devices grows.

An industry responsibility

Rita Tasnadi, Vice President Telco Energy Efficiency and Sustainability at Deutsche Telekom (DT) urged telecommunications companies to collaborate with standards development organizations (SDOs) to achieve more sustainable networks. Tasnadi acknowledged the challenges the industry faces, including limited renewable energy availability, price volatility, fluctuating supply and demand, and rising data volumes.

Tasnadi revealed DT’s commitment to doubling energy efficiency by 2024 and retiring legacy equipment to align with sustainability goals. She emphasized the importance of innovation and a unified vision of future technology for more energy-efficient solutions in mobile and fixed networks. By acting responsibly and continuously innovating, broadband operators can tackle the challenge of achieving greater sustainability.

“The best network must be a sustainable network. As an industry, we must act responsibility and create energy efficient network operations. We need continuously cooperate with SDOs to tackle these challenges.” Tasnadi said.

Energy efficient BNG deployment and unlocking the sustainable home network

Jonathan Newton, Distinguished Technical Expert at Vodafone, focused on the work carried out by the Broadband Forum to enhance energy efficiency in Broadband Network Gateways (BNGs). Newton emphasized the significance of BNG disaggregation, which simplifies system scaling, delivers greater resilience, and ensures the User Plane matches the performance and efficiency requirements of specific services.

Newton highlighted challenges in achieving energy efficiency, such as the lack of declared or measured headline power consumption and quantifying the real benefits of power-saving techniques.

By characterizing and visualizing BNG performance, broadband operators can identify where it performs well and is most efficient.

Christian Gacon, Vice President Orange Labs Network at Orange, emphasized the huge part the home network is contributing into the overall carbon emission from the telecom industry. He highlighted the immense potential of a sustainable home network, outlining several strategies, including lowering energy consumption targets per device, increasing products lifespan, via, e.g., the support of future-proof technologies. Encouraging circular economies through recycling and refurbishing devices is crucial for better environmental management.

Gacon identified the Home Gateway’s idle‑time power consumption as a key area for reducing energy consumption and suggested implementing better sleep modes, leveraging AI for energy management.

Innovation and collaboration the key to broadband efficiencies

This event brought to light the growing commitment of broadband operators towards achieving sustainability in the telecommunications industry. Each presentation showcased innovative ideas and practical solutions to minimize the industry’s environmental impact.

The call for availability of energy related parameters from the network and their relationship to the actual level of service is also fundamental in feeding the AI models. This can deliver the capability of finetuning energy consumption while preserving the expected service quality.

By harnessing standards, adopting energy-efficient practices, and collaborating with SDOs, broadband operators can pave the way for a greener, more sustainable future. As we continue to push the boundaries of technology, cooperation and collective action remain the key to unlocking the full potential of a sustainable home network and creating a better, environmentally conscious world.

The Broadband Forum community is able and willing to take these challenges which matches its strategy for ever evolving standards and sound technical solutions for performant while sustainable broadband services.

The next THIS sessions will take place on Monday, December 4th during the Q4 Meeting.  The Theme selected by THIS Team is Security, touching upon some key aspects of this multi‑faceted area:

• AI-related security threats
• Cybersecurity Standards
• SASE
• Residential customers vulnerabilities
• Security and privacy
• Network and Cloud infrastructure

The call for papers for that session is now closed.

Search for “Town Hall Innovation Series” under Broadband Forum events for past, current and upcoming sessions of THIS. Please contact this@broadband-forum.org for submitting papers on announced Themes or simply sharing any ideas for future Town Hall Innovation Series sessions.