Energy Efficiency Analysis for Mobile Broadband Networks

A recent analysis report by ABI Research finds that WiMAX and metro Wi-Fi technologies are both more energy cost effective than cellular technology.

The report, "Energy Efficiency Analysis for Mobile Broadband Networks," pushes this as an important finding since carriers are moving to high-data-rate mobile broadband access which will cause rapidly-increasing energy consumption (energy costs represent the third most significant operating expense for cellular carriers).

The observation comes into stark relief against the backdrop of rapidly-increasing energy consumption as carriers move to high-data-rate mobile broadband access.

For those broadband networks, energy costs represent the third most significant operating expense (OPEX) for cellular carriers, and fluctuating energy costs are a significant area of concern for business planners, said the report entitled, "Energy Efficiency Analysis for Mobile Broadband Solutions." The move to higher data rates means that the energy required per subscriber arising from increasing data uptake will push per-subscriber energy OPEX for cellular solutions past acceptable barriers—unless carriers move from a traditional cellular-only approach to one that integrates WiMAX and metro Wi-Fi.

Stuart Carlaw, director of wireless research at ABI Research, says that

From a pure coverage perspective WiMAX is twice as energy-cost-effective and metro Wi-Fi is 50 times more energy-cost-effective than WCDMA. When data traffic is factored into the equation, WiMAX can accommodate 11 times today's average data consumption and still be more energy-cost-efficient compared to WCDMA.

A recent ABI Research study found that the total energy consumption arising from mobile broadband service delivery is forecast to grow from 42.8 billion kilowatt hours (KWh) in 2005 to 124.4 billion KWh in 2011. The Asia Pacific region will account for the majority of this growth.

(Note: The editor has not done his due diligence research to determine whether ABI Research is in any way connected to businesses or organizations that have a financial interest in the outcome this reports covers.)
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