O-RAN ALLIANCE started the sustainability efforts in October 2022 and established a Sustainability Focus Group (SuFG) in May 2023. Currently, there are four co-chairs responsible to drive and orchestrate the ongoing work:
SuFG works with O-RAN ALLIANCE’s MVP-C (Minimum Viable Plan Committee) to coordinate initiatives with all O-RAN Work/Focus groups to optimize energy consumption, reduce environmental impact, and create more energy-efficient and environmentally friendly mobile networks.
The efforts within SuFG are focused on 4 main topics:
In July 2024 SuFG published its first deliverable, named “Circular economy guidelines on network equipment v1.0”.
Circular economy guidelines on network equipment is a technical report from the O-RAN ALLIANCE Sustainability Focus Group. It contains circular economy guidelines for network equipment such as O-CU (O-RAN Central Unit), O-DU (O-RAN Distributed Unit), and O-RU (O-RAN Radio Unit) based on the latest recommendation ITU-T L.1023 (08/2023) “Assessment method for circularity performance scoring”, GSMA (03/2022) “Strategy Paper for Circular Economy: Network equipment”, and NGMN 1.0 (07/2021) “Green Future Network Equipment Eco-Design and End to End Service Footprint” strategy papers.
Circular economy model in network equipment refers to a business model aimed at minimizing waste and maximizing the reuse, repair, and recycling of materials throughout the lifecycle of network infrastructure components. This approach seeks to reduce resource depletion risk, ensure supply chain continuity (components, critical raw materials), provide cost savings leveraging refurbished equipment and help reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
The main objective of this technical report is to promote sustainable business models in the telecommunications industry by implementing a circular economy for network equipment. This includes manufacturing products with eco-design and promoting their reuse and recycling. The goal is to standardize circularity criteria to minimize environmental impact across different life cycle stages.
The document provides guidelines from design and manufacturing to the end of the lifecycle of network equipment. It identifies common circular economy aspects and indicators applicable on network equipment mentioned above, including their respective description, contribution and non-contribution cases to circular economy and priority level according to the effect (for customer, environment etc.) of the indicator at hand.
To summarize, the circular economy in network equipment is a transformation approach that emphasizes sustainability and efficiency. By rethinking the lifecycle of network components, from design to disposal, the telecommunications industry can significantly reduce its environmental footprint, enhance resource efficiency, and promote sustainability development.
You can find the technical report at the O-RAN specifications website.
