Broadband Forum-led project including BT Group, Orange, Calix, Futurewei, Huawei and Nokia seeks to lower energy consumption when accessing the internet through more energy-efficient networks.
As the broadband industry aims to meet rising demand for high-speed connectivity, leading to the necessity of fibre-to-the-home (FTTH) networks operating sustainably with a commensurate surge in power usage, the Broadband Forum has embarked on a project to support fibre service providers in their pursuit of more energy-efficient networks that can unlock significant power savings.
Building on ITU-T’s recommendations and guidelines on power saving in fibre equipment, the project – Energy Power Saving Requirements, Test Plan and Data Model from the Broadband Forum’s Fibre Access Network (FAN) Work Area – is being driven by BT Group, Orange, Calix, Futurewei, Huawei and Nokia, and will see a number of Broadband Forum’s standards and specifications incorporate new energy-saving requirements for the industry to adhere to and seek to lower energy consumption when accessing the internet.
The project will build on the ITU-T Supplement 45, G series, which published recommendations and guidelines on power saving in passive optical networks (PON) equipment, and will seek to publish a specification in summer 2025 encouraging the development of technologies that satisfy the power-saving requirements, test plan and data model it sets out.