Mobile industry says energy targets are meaningless without common metrics
(2025/12/18)
- Reference: 1766081257
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2025/12/18/telco_energy_standards/
- Source link:
The Next Generation Mobile Networks (NGMN) alliance is calling for standardized ways to measure energy consumption, saying that the industry cannot deliver on its efficiency and sustainability goals without them.
A [1]report issued by the association, which represents mobile operators and vendors, says that energy metering is not sufficiently standardized across the industry, and this hinders efforts to manage the energy footprint of networks.
A move from basic energy monitoring to more advanced observability and management is essential, according to the report, including the ability to map energy consumption to individual network functions, services, and slices.
[2]
Energy usage is becoming a major concern for mobile operators, according to the NGMN. This is hardly surprising given rising costs in many regions, while consumption is growing due to various factors. Because of this, detailed energy metering is set to become a standard feature of telecoms equipment.
[3]
[4]
The problem is that metering functions are set to be defined by a number of different telecoms standards organizations, the report states, which would complicate efforts to get a coherent picture of energy use across all parts of the network infrastructure.
Also complicating the picture are network slices, a [5]feature of 5G that is becoming more common as 5G Standalone (5G SA) network technology is rolled out. Slices are essentially virtual networks that allow mobile operators to tailor specific capabilities such as low latency or high reliability for specific applications or users, and these extend across different parts of the network.
[6]
Telcos have, in fact, been looking at greater energy efficiency for a while, with a [7]report from a couple of years ago finding that this influenced their choice of hardware to deploy. Because of the disaggregated and cloud-like character of modern networks, operators have a much broader choice when it comes to hardware, it was noted, but this again points to the need for industry-wide standards for measuring energy usage.
[8]China Telecom and China Unicom jointly launch the world's first 5G-A service for high-speed rail
[9]Boffins say tool can sniff 5G traffic, launch 'attacks' without using rogue base stations
[10]Will 2025 be the year satellite-to-smartphone services truly take off?
[11]Gigs in space: Amazon breaks bandwidth barrier with Kuiper's satellite broadband
5G network hardware is understood to be much more energy efficient than the 4G kit it replaces – some vendors claim a reduction of 90 percent in energy consumption. However, [12]a report from back in 2022 estimated that overall power consumption of 5G networks would likely still increase, because the volume of data carried was expected to increase dramatically.
"From both cost and carbon footprint perspectives, energy consumption is one of our industry's biggest challenges," said NGMN Alliance board chairman Laurent Leboucher, who is also EVP Networks for Orange Group.
"As we move further towards virtualized and cloud-native architectures using shared compute, we need industry-wide standards to measure energy use consistently and transparently. NGMN's recommendations towards standards in this area are a key first step," he added.
The NGMN report recommends that the industry should consolidate and harmonize standards where possible. It calls for the definition of a framework for energy monitoring that works for both fixed and mobile transport networks and is appropriate for all common operating models.
[13]
In addition, there should be a standardized API that enables operators to expose and manage the capabilities of network slices, including their energy consumption and efficiency. ®
Get our [14]Tech Resources
[1] https://www.ngmn.org/publications/metering-in-ran-transport-networks.html
[2] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/networks&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2aUSHiFep7AKPD7pP5gcVqgAAAA0&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[3] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/networks&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44aUSHiFep7AKPD7pP5gcVqgAAAA0&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[4] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/networks&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33aUSHiFep7AKPD7pP5gcVqgAAAA0&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[5] https://www.theregister.com/2024/02/08/bt_5g_network_slicing/
[6] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/networks&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44aUSHiFep7AKPD7pP5gcVqgAAAA0&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[7] https://www.theregister.com/2023/04/13/energy_efficiency_5g_infrastructure/
[8] https://www.theregister.com/2025/11/26/zte-first-5g-a-service-for-high-speed-rail/
[9] https://www.theregister.com/2025/08/18/sni5gect/
[10] https://www.theregister.com/2025/01/02/satellite_phone_services_starlink/
[11] https://www.theregister.com/2025/09/04/amazon_kuiper_speed_jetblue/
[12] https://www.theregister.com/2022/03/03/report_casts_doubt_on_5g/
[13] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/networks&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33aUSHiFep7AKPD7pP5gcVqgAAAA0&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[14] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
A [1]report issued by the association, which represents mobile operators and vendors, says that energy metering is not sufficiently standardized across the industry, and this hinders efforts to manage the energy footprint of networks.
A move from basic energy monitoring to more advanced observability and management is essential, according to the report, including the ability to map energy consumption to individual network functions, services, and slices.
[2]
Energy usage is becoming a major concern for mobile operators, according to the NGMN. This is hardly surprising given rising costs in many regions, while consumption is growing due to various factors. Because of this, detailed energy metering is set to become a standard feature of telecoms equipment.
[3]
[4]
The problem is that metering functions are set to be defined by a number of different telecoms standards organizations, the report states, which would complicate efforts to get a coherent picture of energy use across all parts of the network infrastructure.
Also complicating the picture are network slices, a [5]feature of 5G that is becoming more common as 5G Standalone (5G SA) network technology is rolled out. Slices are essentially virtual networks that allow mobile operators to tailor specific capabilities such as low latency or high reliability for specific applications or users, and these extend across different parts of the network.
[6]
Telcos have, in fact, been looking at greater energy efficiency for a while, with a [7]report from a couple of years ago finding that this influenced their choice of hardware to deploy. Because of the disaggregated and cloud-like character of modern networks, operators have a much broader choice when it comes to hardware, it was noted, but this again points to the need for industry-wide standards for measuring energy usage.
[8]China Telecom and China Unicom jointly launch the world's first 5G-A service for high-speed rail
[9]Boffins say tool can sniff 5G traffic, launch 'attacks' without using rogue base stations
[10]Will 2025 be the year satellite-to-smartphone services truly take off?
[11]Gigs in space: Amazon breaks bandwidth barrier with Kuiper's satellite broadband
5G network hardware is understood to be much more energy efficient than the 4G kit it replaces – some vendors claim a reduction of 90 percent in energy consumption. However, [12]a report from back in 2022 estimated that overall power consumption of 5G networks would likely still increase, because the volume of data carried was expected to increase dramatically.
"From both cost and carbon footprint perspectives, energy consumption is one of our industry's biggest challenges," said NGMN Alliance board chairman Laurent Leboucher, who is also EVP Networks for Orange Group.
"As we move further towards virtualized and cloud-native architectures using shared compute, we need industry-wide standards to measure energy use consistently and transparently. NGMN's recommendations towards standards in this area are a key first step," he added.
The NGMN report recommends that the industry should consolidate and harmonize standards where possible. It calls for the definition of a framework for energy monitoring that works for both fixed and mobile transport networks and is appropriate for all common operating models.
[13]
In addition, there should be a standardized API that enables operators to expose and manage the capabilities of network slices, including their energy consumption and efficiency. ®
Get our [14]Tech Resources
[1] https://www.ngmn.org/publications/metering-in-ran-transport-networks.html
[2] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/networks&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2aUSHiFep7AKPD7pP5gcVqgAAAA0&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[3] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/networks&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44aUSHiFep7AKPD7pP5gcVqgAAAA0&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[4] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/networks&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33aUSHiFep7AKPD7pP5gcVqgAAAA0&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[5] https://www.theregister.com/2024/02/08/bt_5g_network_slicing/
[6] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/networks&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44aUSHiFep7AKPD7pP5gcVqgAAAA0&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[7] https://www.theregister.com/2023/04/13/energy_efficiency_5g_infrastructure/
[8] https://www.theregister.com/2025/11/26/zte-first-5g-a-service-for-high-speed-rail/
[9] https://www.theregister.com/2025/08/18/sni5gect/
[10] https://www.theregister.com/2025/01/02/satellite_phone_services_starlink/
[11] https://www.theregister.com/2025/09/04/amazon_kuiper_speed_jetblue/
[12] https://www.theregister.com/2022/03/03/report_casts_doubt_on_5g/
[13] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/networks&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33aUSHiFep7AKPD7pP5gcVqgAAAA0&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[14] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
Are we really nitpicking 5G energy consumption?
What the fuck is happening in the world? We are nitpicking 5G energy consumption, we are harassing people who want to have a car, while we are throwing away terawatts for AI and crypto crap?