The Impact of GPON Technology on Power Consumption and Carbon Footprint in Malaysia

Abstract

Telecom networks constitute a significant part of Internet & Communication Technology (ICT). With the growth of traffic volume in telecom networks, the energy consumption and carbon footprint increase rapidly. Therefore, as the awareness of sustainable environment increases, all industries including Telco have started their green initiatives to reduce the energy consumption that will lead to the reduction of carbon emission. In general, typical telecom networks can be divided into several sections which are core, metro and access network. In this explanatory research, it aims to focus on the access network so called the “last mile”, to analyse the impact of Gigabit Passive Optical Network (GPON) as fixed access network technology to power consumption and carbon footprint in Malaysia. In Malaysia, GPON is being deployed to provide broadband service; among other access technology such as Digital Subscriber Loop (DSL). GPON technology utilizes fiber optic to connect the central office equipment (Optical Line Terminal-OLT) to the customer device (Optical Network Unit –ONU). By using deductive approach, secondary data from Telekom Malaysia’s (TM) network inventory list is used to determine the number of access network equipment deployed in the entire network. The maximum power consumption for all access network equipment is identified based on the hardware specification and converted to carbon emission. This conversion is based on GHG protocol Scope 2 (Indirect Emission) where the carbon emission is estimated based on the purchased electricity. Based on the analysis, it is found out that the impact of GPON technology on power consumption per subscriber and annual carbon footprint are less than other fixed access technologies deployed in Malaysia.