Nokia said it plans to cut in half its power consumption for its AirScale 5G massive MIMO base station as the company seeks to further its goal of zero emissions.
By 2023, Nokia said software improvements and new product variants based on its latest system-on-chips (SoCs) will help reduce power consumption. Recent field tests that took place on a live commercial network found the power consumption for Nokia’s 5G base stations was double-digit percentage points lower than that of other competitors, Nokia said. Additionally, 5G advanced sleep mode features will help optimize the base station energy usage.
Nokia said 5G is natively a greener technology with more data bits per kilowatt of energy compared to previous wireless technology generations, but the rollout of 5G networks is set to increase traffic dramatically, so it is important the energy consumed does not rise at the same rate. Several energy-saving features are included at the radio base station and network levels such as 5G power-savings, small cell deployments and 5G architecture and protocols that when combined improve energy efficiency of wireless networks.
“Nokia is committed to contributing to solving the world’s sustainability challenges and we do that by ensuring our technology is designed to be as energy-efficient as possible,” said Ari Kynäslahti, head of technology and strategy at Nokia. “This means using less energy during use and manufacture. Everything from our chipsets to our software and hardware is geared towards supporting this goal.”
