Ericsson-LG’s new 5G equipment helps reduce carbon

Ericsson-LG CEO Hannes Ekström speaks during a press conference in Seoul on Thursday. [ERICSSON-LG]

Achieving net zero remains a challenge for the communications services industry as data traffic continues to grow.

Ericsson-LG, a network equipment provider in Korea, says its new 5G equipment can help significantly reduce carbon emissions.

“For every generation of technology we have implemented, the need for energy consumption has increased,” Hannes Ekström, CEO of Ericsson-LG, said at a press conference on Thursday.

“From 2G to 3G and from 3G to 4G, the networks have always used more energy. And we want to break that trend by making 5G more energy efficient.”

Ericsson-LG introduced its new Air 6476 network equipment capable of covering multiple bandwidths. The company explained that the device can save a significant amount of energy compared to using two or three devices with single bandwidth coverage.

“Apart from the energy consumed by the device, if you consider the energy consumed in the manufacturing and delivery process as well as the components, the application of this kind of modernized technology in the manufacturing of network equipment is essential to reduce the carbon emission.” said Kwon Kyung-in, chief technology officer at Ericsson-LG.

Deploying a standalone 5G (SA) network is essential to enjoying the more high-tech gadgets that are pouring in, such as the recent Apple Vision Pro, according to the company.

In Korea, KT is the only telco that offers the 5G SA network. SKT and LG U+ rely on a 5G network supported by the 4G LTE network, known as 5G NSA (not standalone).

Standalone 5G relies solely on 5G frequencies, which lowers latency and speeds up data transmission, which is essential when using high-tech gadgets like XR headsets.

“Korea still needs to go one step further to catch up with the rest of the world [in terms of 5G SA],” Ekström said.

“We plan to support Korea in this area.”

Ericsson-LG is a joint venture between the Swedish equipment manufacturer Ericsson and Korea’s LG Electronics, in which the Swedish company owns a 75 percent stake.

AT YOUR EUN-SOO [jin.eunsoo@joongang.co.kr]