INTELLIGENT BRANDS // Green Technology
Investing in sustainability boosts telecom industry bottom line , GSMA study shows
GSMA Intelligence has released new insights in a report , Green is good for business : making the financial case in telecoms . The second instalment in a three-part series on sustainability , the report , produced in partnership with Huawei , shows that by investing in greener technologies , telecom operators can boost their financial bottom line .
“ While the net zero and environmental imperative are fundamental , green investments should be seen as good for costs and revenues ,” said Tim Hatt , Head of Consulting at GSMA Intelligence .
One of the main reasons companies may be reluctant to invest in sustainability is a concern that doing so will be costly . The latest GSMA Intelligence study demonstrates that in the telecom industry , this is far from being the case . For instance , operators could reduce OpEx by 4 % for a 20 % reduction in energy costs through power efficiencies . This acts as a powerful incentive to invest in power-saving technologies like 5G , AI and Lithium-Ion batteries . In addition , customers worldwide are willing to support with their wallet telcos that invest in sustainability . With climate change a top concern , 30 – 60 % of telco subscribers surveyed in 16 countries would pay more for mobile airtime tariffs that are certified carbon neutral .
“ On costs , energy is still 20 – 40 % of telco OpEx and reducing this by 10 – 20 % can feed through to an EBITDA uplift of 2 – 4 %. On the revenue side , we see opportunities from green-linked tariffs , trade-ins and the sale of renewables ,” Hatt added .
The GSMA Intelligence study also shows that telcos are well positioned to financially benefit from the world ’ s decarbonisation mission . This is because digital technologies can enable as much as 40 % of the CO 2 savings needed by 2030 from the industries accounting for most of the world ’ s carbon emissions .
The research aims to give an evidencebased view of why going green makes business sense and how this can be done effectively . p
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