Green 5G.

In a post-pandemic scenario, the EU will bet on environmental sustainability and digitisation. 5G has a crucial role in the latter since it is the backbone of the data use.

Multiplying the data traffic by reducing the energetic consumption.

According to Ericsson’s report of last November, they informed that there will be 3500 million mobile phones connected to 5G networks by 2026, compared to the current 1000 million. All this without including the different devices that will be connected to the Internet of Things.

Concerning the energy efficiency of 5G networks, Ericsson and Telefónica have been carrying out one of the most interesting pilot projects since 2018, concretely in Talavera de la Reina (Toledo).

In this pilot project, both companies carry out tests for the deployment of this technology and on the different cases of use. The actual measurements carried out in this pilot in Talavera de la Reina shows that 5G technology uses only 10 % of the power of the equivalent 4G. Therefore, we can conclude that, according to these tests, 5G is ten times more efficient.

Artificial intelligence for greater energy efficiency.

AI algorithms under development allow a more efficient design for technology and equipment. For instance, they allow to:

• Minimise the use of resources for data transfer.
• Optimise the off and on of resources based on traffic demand.

Indirect energy savings.

In addition to the savings in energy consumption directly caused by the development of the technology itself, there are other cases of indirect energy consumption savings, as indicated by Iván Rejón, Head of Marketing and Communication for Spain and Portugal at Ericsson: “A two-hour videoconference from a device connected to 5G avoid many trips and consume ten times less energy than a car travelling one kilometre.”