Report: 'Green' Equipment to Represent 46 Percent of Telecom Network Market by 2013

Environmentally-friendly telecom equipment will grow to represent 46 percent of the $277 billion global telecom infrastructure market by 2013, says the latest research report from Pike Research.

That means the future base stations and switching centers will be more energy efficient, and handsets may start consuming less electricity.

There are many factors contributing to this transformation. First and foremost, a majority of operators in the emerging markets have already vowed to reduce their networks’ carbon footprints. Second, the network infrastructure vendors are pushing equipments that require lesser power.

For mobile phone companies, base stations and switching centers comprise 70-80 percent of total network energy usage.

In most of the emerging markets, including India and China, industries are running short of electricity. And energy consumption is proving to be a drain on the earnings.

Increasing use of green technologies and decreasing number of consumers will make fixed-line telephone networks to reduce carbon emission by 14 percent in 2013, say analysts.

“Reduced power requirements will facilitate the integration of renewable energy sources such as solar photovoltaics, wind energy, and fuel cells, while also opening the door for more efficient network architectures and topologies. This is especially true in remote areas where networks rely heavily on diesel generators for primary and backup power,” the researcher said quoting Clint Wheelock as saying.

Those telecom operators and equipment vendors who are bringing about this transformation include China Mobile, Cisco, Huawei, Juniper Networks, Nokia Siemens Networks (News - Alert), Telstra, and Vodafone.

Many cell phone companies are introducing energy saving handsets and other eco-options. For example, Sony-Ericsson recently launched its Greenheart mobile phones.

The research report titled “Green Telecom Networks,” examines business opportunities and challenges associated with improving the energy efficiency of fixed and mobile telecom networks, reducing associated carbon emissions, and utilizing renewable power sources such as solar photovoltaics, wind energy, and fuel cells.