Network Green – a collaboration between T-Mobile and Nokia Siemens Networks

T-Mobile International, one of the three strategic business units of Deutsche Telekom, is firmly committed to environmental sustainability. Their sustainability principles, which are based on the vision formulated at the Earth Day Summit in 1992, provide guidelines for taking economic, social and ecological responsibilities into equal account in all their business.

To put these principles into practice, T-Mobile is utilizing and developing the environmental benefits of communications with solutions such as virtual answering machines, videoconferencing solutions and telemetric systems for traffic control. They are also looking closely at the environmental performance of their products, services and technologies, focusing on the resources they consume and their impact on natural systems and landscapes.

For example, they have recently introduced the “The Greenbook”. As Mr. Tjerk Hazeveld, Vice President NT Infrastructure Systems of T-Mobile International, explains, “This is an ongoing initiative aimed at harmonizing sustainability standards in the areas of system technology, terminal devices and services, with the objective of applying these standards in relationships with suppliers and manufacturers.”

As part of T-Mobile’s continuing cooperation with equipment vendors, they are also working with Nokia Siemens Networks to share their aims for creating solutions to meet environmental challenges.

“We are particularly interested in developing and implementing energy-independent sites,” notes Hazeveld. “These are sites that use renewable energy and basically run themselves. We also want to improve the efficiency of our installed base.”

To help reach these goals, T-Mobile, Deutsche Telekom and Nokia Siemens Networks have established several workstreams as part of a joint project to share best practices. One of these workstreams, Environment and Energy Efficiency, which is chaired by Andrew Clark from the Nokia Siemens Networks environmental affairs team, looks at ways to adapt our energy-saving solutions for T-Mobile’s specific needs.

“This work is an important first step towards our goal of dramatically improving the energy efficiency of our networks and reducing the carbon footprint of our operations. This is something that is growing in importance for our customers and other stakeholders, so it is a high priority for us,” concludes Hazeveld.