Japan’s KDDI has been named the world’s most sustainable mobile network operator, in a study by Juniper Research.
German mobile operator Deutsche Telekom ranked second in the study, followed by US telephony giant Verizon.
In conducting its research, Juniper analysed mobile network operators around the world in terms of the breadth and depth of sustainability initiatives, the array of sustainable technologies that they have adopted, and their success achieved so far with regard to the sustainable transition of their operations.
KDDI comes out on top
Founded in 2000 through the merger of DDI, KDD, and IDO, Tokyo-based KDDI came out on top for its investment in cloud technologies and circular economy strategies that focus on recycling network hardware, the research firm said.
In addition, in 2023, more than 99% of KDDI’s disused network hardware was recycled. The increasing adoption of cloud services has allowed KDDI to automate processes, leading to a significant reduction in carbon emissions and energy consumption.
The company is also optimising data center operations and minimising the scale of physical networks through network function virtualisation (NFV), which further contributes to energy savings.
Cloud computing
According to the research, cloud computing is the most impactful form of technology adopted by mobile network operators to reduce carbon emissions, costs and energy consumption. As 5G and 6G networks proliferate, centralising and automating network functions via cloud platforms will enable operators to reduce their overall energy consumption by over 2,000TWh globally in 2025.
“Cloud computing is an instrumental strategy for operators to improve efficiency and meet sustainability goals,” commented report author Frederick Savage. “Cloud’s ability to dynamically allocate resources in real-time significantly reduces energy consumption, compared to the constant energy requirement from traditional networks.”
The research examines the sustainability footprint of various mobile network operators, including América Móvil, AT&T, BT, China Mobile, China Telecom, China Unicom, Deutsche Telekom, KDDI, NTT, Orange, STC, Telefónica, T-Mobile US, Verizon, and Vodafone. Read more here.
