Thomas Johansson, Product Manager with Ericsson GSM Radio Access Network, says the new technology is not only easy to install, but can be used with virtually all of the GSM radio base stations Ericsson has installed since 1995.
 

The Base Transceiver Station Power Savings feature, launched on November 30, 2007, reduces energy consumption in mobile networks during low traffic periods by putting those parts of the radio network that are not being used in standby mode.
 

Depending on the network traffic pattern the BTS Power Savings feature can reduce energy consumption by up to 25 percent in the radio access network, Johansson says.
"We save energy by turning channels off, and we do this without affecting ongoing traffic or anything else that will affect the end user."
 

Operators spend as much as half their operating expenses on energy, so the new feature can significantly cut costs for operators, Johansson says.
 

And it's easy to get started. All that is needed is the November 30 software upgrade. "Implementation is very fast. Operators basically turn the feature on, and that's it."

Another major benefit with the BTS Power Savings feature is that it's not just valid for new base stations. "We can make this work on all the equipment we have delivered since the mid-1990s," Johansson says.
 

Ericsson has delivered more than 1 million base stations around the world, so the potential benefits to the environment are also significant. If deployed across all of those base stations, the power-saving feature could mean a collective energy savings of 1 terawatt hour (TWh) (1000,000,000,000 Wh), which would also result in a large reduction in carbon-dioxide emissions. A network with 100,000 tranceivers (TRXs) will avoid 4400 tons of carbon dioxide emissions per year.

Vodafone Germany was the first operator to start using the new BTS Power Savings feature in December. Johansson hopes that most operators will be using it within two years.
 

Hartmut Kremling, Chief Technology Officer of Vodafone Germany, says: "Our initiative with Ericsson shows that Vodafone takes its responsibility for the environment seriously. We have a leading role in this field in the telecoms sector."
 

The BTS Power Savings feature is just one of the innovations Ericsson has developed to save energy and money and cut back on environmentally harmful carbon-dioxide emissions. Several other innovations are being developed for release during 2008 or later. Ericsson has committed itself to improving the energy efficiency of its base stations by up to 80 percent by the end of 2008, compared to levels of 2001.