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The Next Generation Mobile Networks Alliance (NGMN) today published new operator-driven guidance calling for the creation and harmonisation of energy metering standards across 5G RAN transport networks. The publication emphasises that Mobile Network Operators (MNOs) urgently need accurate, standardised methods to measure energy consumption and to improve energy efficiency across front-, mid-, and backhaul networks — a critical step in reducing operational costs and meeting sustainability targets.

In its latest deliverable, Green Future Networks: Metering in RAN Transport Networks, NGMN highlights that energy consumption and efficiency remain insufficiently addressed due to a wide landscape of telecom Standard Development Organisations (SDOs) and further standardisation bodies working on energy metering standards.

NGMN stresses that this fragmented landscape is a major structural barrier to enable comparable, function-specific energy measurements across transport networks. With the global trend towards All-IP networks, the Alliance therefore recommends stronger collaboration and harmonisation between all relevant SDOs to provide a coherent view of standardisation, arching from the physical layer to the network or even transport layer (OSI & TCP/IP model) including upcoming virtualisation of transport functions.

The RAN (Radio Access Network) transport network plays a pivotal role in transmitting data between radio towers and the core network, enabling devices like smartphones to communicate with the internet and each other. Since transport equipment is widely used across multiple industries, NGMN emphasises that bringing SDOs together is essential to align definitions, data models and interfaces — a prerequisite for efficient energy observability and management.

“From both cost and carbon footprint perspectives, energy consumption is one of our industry’s biggest challenges,” said Laurent Leboucher, Chairman of the NGMN Alliance Board and Orange Group CTO & EVP Networks. “As we move further towards virtualised 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.

Building on NGMN’s 2024 publication Metering in Virtualised RAN Infrastructure, the new publication concludes that further standardisation is needed, particularly in defining harmonised data models and key performance indicators that allow energy efficiency to be derived at device, network function and 5G slice level. It also emphasises the need for aligned APIs across SDOs to enable operators to expose and manage energy efficiency metrics consistently.

“Metering is essential for monitoring energy consumption and efficiency — both fundamental indicators of network optimisation,” said Arash Ashouriha, NGMN Board Member and SVP Group Technology, Deutsche Telekom. “This publication, led by Deutsche Telekom in close collaboration with our NGMN Alliance partners, identifies key standards, explores metering in virtualised or cloud-native transport networks and provides recommendations towards future standardisation, with the aim of ensuring MNOs can accurately measure energy consumption. We are encouraged by the ongoing efforts within several SDOs that are beginning to address these recommendations.”

The publication also outlines a comprehensive view of the standards landscape covering microwave, fibre, optical networking, packet transport and virtualised functions. It highlights the importance of mapping energy consumption to individual functions, services and slices, especially in virtualised, cloud-native and disaggregated environments — a crucial capability for operators aiming to optimise energy use across heterogeneous transport networks.

Together with NGMN’s earlier metering publications there is now an end-to-end view across all RAN domains, describing the state of metering, the remaining challenges and next steps required to enable meaningful energy efficiency optimisation and carbon reduction.

“Green Future Networks is a key strategic programme of the NGMN Alliance,” said Anita Doehler, CEO of the NGMN Alliance. “Since 2021, this programme has united global operators, vendors and academia to develop strategic guidance on crucial sustainability topics of the industry. We are proud of our members’ commitment to reducing climate impact and shaping future network technologies,” she added.

Collaboration is key to driving the industry’s most important topics such as NGMN’s strategic pillars: Mastering the Route to Disaggregation, Green Future Networks, and 6G. NGMN therefore invites all parties across the entire value chain to join the Alliance in this important endeavour.

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The new guidance outlines how MNOs can benefit from deploying local renewables and batteries at cell sites for their own energy generation – becoming virtual power plants – and sell energy back to energy companies to help better manage operational costs and navigate limited energy resources.   

“As the shift towards green energy accelerates, energy management is becoming a core focus for MNOs and the wider mobile industry as we look to reduce our energy footprint and improve the planning and management of our limited energy resources,” said Chairman of the NGMN Alliance Board and Orange Group CTO and EVP Networks Laurent Leboucher. “NGMN’s guidance provides operators with a toolkit of options they can apply in order to manage this transition effectively.“ 

The publication ‘Energy Management and Flexibility in Mobile Networks’ explores energy management at both the cell site and network levels, highlighting the technical and operational process changes MNOs are required to embrace to support the energy transitions of national grids. It outlines the key challenges – from local wind and solar capabilities, grid connections, tariffs and batteries requirements – that MNOs need to manage when integrating renewables into their networks to achieve their respective sustainability goals, such as reducing emissions, cost, or grid-balancing targets. 

The guidance also urges MNOs to consider how advanced their countries’ grids are in integrating variable renewable energy (VRE), such as wind and solar. For example, in countries where VRE is already well established, it may not be beneficial for operators to invest heavily in building their own renewable energy sources. 

“The transition to the green economy provides unique opportunities for mobile operators and the industry at large to play a wider role in enabling and supporting change at the national level,” said NGMN Board Director and Vodafone Head of Group R&D Luke Ibbetson. “For example, not only can MNOs benefit from deploying local renewables and batteries at cell sites, depending on national legislation, but they can also use those assets to offer new services to energy companies in the form of balancing the grid. As the grid becomes more dependent on variable and intermittent energy sources, enabling grid flexibility becomes increasingly important,” he added. 

The publication aims to help operators identify key considerations when making a choice on energy strategy so that the right balance between sustainability goals, investments, and energy cost stabilisation can be achieved. 

“Our publication ‘Energy Management and Flexibility in Mobile Networks’ is the latest guidance from NGMN’s Green Future Networks Programme, moving the discussion forward from energy efficiency and energy saving in mobile networks towards energy management,” said NGMN CEO Anita Doehler. “Since 2021, our members have worked collaboratively to provide essential guidance that helps the mobile industry reduce its emissions and environmental footprint, and we will continue providing actionable guidance as part of our Green Future Networks Programme. I strongly encourage all industry stakeholders to implement these latest recommendations depending on their specific circumstances and local legislation and joining NGMN to help drive forward this vital work together with fellow decision-makers,” continued Doehler. 

The new publication can be downloaded here. 

Further information and all NGMN publications can be found on the website at ngmn.org. 

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Setting the agenda for 2025 – Towards carbon neutral communications. Join NGMN’s Green Future Networks Project Lead Saima Ansari and other industry leaders for panel sessions – register for free here.

Register for free now and find the agenda here.

Access our latest publications here.

We invite interested industry players to become part of our endeavour.

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The ETSI and ITU ICT Sustainability Symposium: Standards Driving Environmental Innovation will bring together industry leaders, policymakers, researchers and stakeholders to explore the crucial role of standards in promoting sustainable ICT practices.

Our Senior Programme Manager Sparsh Singhal will share NGMN’s view and recommendations on Session 5: “ICT Solutions for Sustainability”. Join him and other industry leaders on 11 Dec 5:20-6:30 pm to highlight international standards that set methodologies for measuring environmental impact, ensuring consistency and effectiveness in sustainability efforts.

Register now and find here the agenda here.

Access our latest publications here.

We invite interested industry players to become part of our endeavour. 

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In September, our membership will come together for the NGMN Forum in Munich as we continue to advance key projects in Mastering the Route to Disaggregation, Green Future Networks and 6G to help shape the future of mobile communications.

The Forum will take place over two days at Telefónica Germany on 09 September and at the Munich Marriott Hotel City West on 10 September.

The agenda, filled with insightful meetings, presentations and panel discussions, will spotlight our industry leaders, operators, vendors, and research institutes including representatives from Vodafone, China Mobile International Limited, UScellular, Nokia , NTT DATA, Telefónica, Huawei, Fraunhofer IPA , and many more.

You can find the agenda here:

AGENDA

Not an NGMN member yet? Discover how you can help shape the future of our industry at this engaging and dynamic event.

Contact office@ngmn.org for more information or learn more here. https://www.ngmn.org/about-us/membership.html

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Join her and other industry leaders for a panel session on:

3 July, 16:00 – 18:00: Towards Open 6G Research Infrastructures and Toolkits (Open6GRIT)

Register now and find all the details on the agenda and speakers here.

In the meantime access our latest 6G publications here.

We invite interested industry players to become part of our endeavour. 

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