Energy Savings in Mobile Broadband Network Based on Load Predictions: Opportunities and Potentials

The deployment of new network equipment is resulting in increasing energy consumption in mobile broadband networks (MBNs). This contributes to higher CO₂ emissions. Over the last 10 years MBNs have grown considerably, and are still growing to meet the evolution in traffic volume carried in wireless networks. To save energy in MBNs, one of the options is to turn off parts of the network equipment in areas where traffic falls below a specific predefined threshold. This paper looks at a methodology for identifying periods of the day when cells or sites carrying low traffic are candidates for being totally or partly switched off, given that the decrease in service quality can be controlled gracefully when the sites are switched off. Based on traffic data from an operational network, potential average energy savings of approximately 30% with some few low traffic cells/sites reaching up to 99% energy savings can be identified.