A KT executive called on the mobile industry to expand its energy reduction efforts from the current focus on the radio unit side of base stations to other areas, such as data centres and central facilities.

At the GTI Summit, KT’s Infrastructure DX R&D Centre head Lee Jongsik said the move to green base stations using reusable energy is a major trend operators are exploring, but more parts of the network and overall operations need to be targeted.

The operator is working to improve the power usage effectiveness of its data centres to the highest global standard, experimenting with various cooling techniques, such as air flow prediction using dynamic zoning and computational fluid dynamics.

He stressed strong government policy plays an important role, with the Korean government pledging to make the country carbon neutral by 2050 and pushing for industry initiatives to shift energy sources.

The impact of technology on improving energy efficiency “surpasses expectations, and considering the growing number of 5G base stations, the power saving impact is expected to increase further,” he added.

Lee closed by saying its vital for operators to share use cases and best practices on decarbonisation to maximise the impacts, noting GSMA’s efforts on this front.