Operators are facing the challenge of having to deploy more hardware to meet the appetite of users for more data while at the same time they need to try to take out as much equipment as they can in terms of a per user, said Chris Hristov, AVP of network engineering and automation at AT&T.
“We’re almost constantly fighting the battle of having to deploy more hardware which consumes more energy, and at the same time you have to try to take out as much as you can in terms of a per-user. So we went down the road of putting radio heads to sleep. That was pretty controversial a few years ago, because from a competitive perspective, people make the argument you’re taking spectrum off-air, saving on power, but at the same time are you impacting your performance. But we found that we can do that and manage that in a way that was pretty effective,” Hristov said during a panel session at the recent RCR Wireless News’s Telco Sustainability Forum (available on demand here).
