Eco-efficiency indicator: an operator’s energy performance indicator

In the last ten years, the telecom Operators have made strong actions towards an ever more efficient use of the energy and to its reduction. As the network architecture was stable (service from the Central Office), the effect of these actions was easily measurable. The Next Generation Network (NGN) the Operators are aiming to, implies a completely different and highly distributed scenario, where most of the network equipment will be deployed in FTTCab -FTTB architecture. There is the need to define a method to analyze the energy performance behavior which should be both general and future proof. This method should be applicable both to the current network and to the NGN, assuring a constant and reliable assessment. The proposed method takes into account the ratio between the service delivered (in terms of bits) and the total energy used by the Operator (Joules). Telecom Italia is developing a comprehensive Indicator representing its Fixed and Mobile networks performance. The energy sources taken into account are: industrial (energy used by the network plants), civil (offices, lighting) and fuels (car and heating fuel). The document will depict the results of the application of such an Indicator to the Telecom Italia case. It will analyze its trend on 2003 -2006 period, detailing all the key factors and their mutual action on the final result.