Barcelona meet takeaway: Telcos think green to cut emissions

The recently-concluded Mobile World Congress in Barcelona had a distinct colour—green. Whether we talk of the paperless media room, the delegate bags made out of recycled bottles, or telecom biggies flaunting their environment-friendly initiatives, the ‘green’ message was loud and clear.

Yet another dominant theme during the four-day summit was machine-to-machine (M2M) communication, something that is waiting to become as commonplace as talking on the mobile
phone.

Among others, Japan’s leading telecom firm NTT Docomo reiterated its commitment of cutting greenhouse gas emissions.

Through presentations, displays and brochures, Docomo explained how a telecom major, with 55 million subscribers, must reduce emissions. Green IT is the answer, the company said. One example is that of the ‘Eco Tower’— a 3G base station powered by solar energy.

Also, Docomo and Coca-Cola have co-developed an inventory that uses vending machines with 3G modules to enable distributors to remotely check product stock at any given time, thereby reducing CO2 emissions by 12.5%, Docomo claimed.

Not just that, the Japanese telco came out with a concept phone called Touchwood, made with surplus cypress wood from tress culled during thinning operations, to maintain healthy forests.

Norway’s Telenor is also thinking green. According to a recent report, the information and communications technology industry is set to surpass the aviation industry as a major carbon emitter by 2012.

To counter this, Telenor has taken several environment-friendly initiatives, some of which were showcased at the summit. For instance, its Hungarian mobile operator Pannon has commissioned a first wind-powered base station.

The group is also aiming to reduce emissions through energy-efficient buildings. It has already initiated recycling of mobile phones, and using telecommunications as an alternative to business travel whenever possible.

Its target: reduce CO2 emission intensity of Telenor’s global operations by 40 % within 2017, compared with 2008.
India’s Vihaan Networks Ltd (VNL) was also on the forefront of green initiatives at the meet.

The company manufactures the solar-powered turnkey GSM system specifically made for rural areas. It runs exclusively on solar power and requires no diesel generator backup.

As for machine-to-machine connectivity, it is all set to move into
people’s homes just like electricity, a top representative from a telecom company told DNA Money.  M2M is about data communications between machines.

It refers to telemetry or telematics that is accomplished using networks. Large oil and gas companies and electric utilities were among the first private organisations to use telemetry.

Through embedded mobiles, checking of electricity meters to track power consumption is being done remotely in many parts of Europe and the US, for instance.

Then there are connected cars with emergency systems, health monitoring devices and smart transportation—all through M2M connectivity. Some global telcos are even scouting the Indian market for partnerships in the automobile and power sectors.

Other issues that kept audiences engaged included mobile banking, futuristic Facebook/Twitter applications on  handsets, micro-business segmentation being planned by telcos, and of course low-cost handsets. This time, it was Vodafone which unveiled a sub-$15 handset at the summit!