Nokia’s tech uses AI and machine learning to reduce energy consumption while maintaining network performance
Safaricom Kenya says Nokia is to deploy its AVA Energy Efficiency software to help the operator lower power consumption and costs over its 5G, 4G, and 3G networks.
The roll-out covers about 30,000 mobile cells and is expected to reduce energy costs by 8-10%. The RAN is typically responsible for about 70% of an operator’s energy bill. This deployment follows the recent completion of a pilot programme with Safaricom Kenya.
Nokia AVA for Energy uses AI and machine learning to shut down idle and unused equipment automatically during low usage periods, in conjunction with Nokia Radio Energy Efficiency features.
Nokia has more than 50 completed or active energy saving projects with operators around the world, as they increasingly look to reduce energy consumption and costs, and address environmental sustainability issues in their networks.
Environmental concerns
Anthony Gacanja, Network Director at Safaricom Kenya, said, “Network power consumption is a challenging issue for operators on many levels, including costs and from an environment perspective. This rollout with Nokia represents an important step to helping Safaricom Kenya mitigate this challenge while delivering the same network quality and reliability to our customers.”
Samar Mittal, VP, Cloud and Network Services (CNS), Global Business Center (GBC) at Nokia MEA, said: “As Nokia says often: there is no green without digital. So we are very pleased to be helping Safaricom lower its network power usage and use its assets in a more cost-effective way through Nokia’s advanced software capabilities.
“These drive meaningful power use and cost reductions and do so without impact to the customer experience. This is especially important as we look to the annual United Nations climate conference later this week and the progress we hope that is achieved at that gathering.”