At the Global Standards Symposium (GSS), the Chief Technology Officer (CTO) of Ericsson highlighted the critical role of artificial intelligence (AI) in developing sustainable and energy-efficient mobile networks. The use of AI, hardware, and software will enable the telecom industry to build sustainable and energy-efficient mobile networks, ET reported, citing the CTO of Ericsson.
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Sustainability and Energy Efficiency as Priorities
"Sustainability and energy efficiency are key for designing mobile networks today. Despite traffic growth of up to 40 percent yearly in some cases, networks do not need to consume more energy. Achieving yearly reductions in energy use towards net-zero by 2040 would not be possible without AI," the report quoted Erik Ekudden, CTO of Ericsson, as saying at the inaugural session of the fifth edition of the GSS.
Autonomous Networks
According to the executive, the integration of AI, hardware, and software can facilitate the creation of autonomous networks, which could significantly lower both the total cost of ownership (TCO) and carbon footprints, the report said.
He noted that these benefits are being observed across traditional industries such as mining, manufacturing, and transportation, leveraging technologies like 5G, intelligent cloud, AI, augmented reality (AR), and others.
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Impact of 5G and Cloud Infrastructure
Looking ahead, he said 5G, fiber, and resilient cloud infrastructure will support the "cyber-physical continuum" and bridge the physical and digital divide. "This will lead to the evolution of 6G for terrestrial and satellite communication, aimed at industries such as mining, manufacturing, transportation, healthcare, and financial services."
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AI Regulations
While acknowledging the need for regulating AI and AR to ensure ethical practices, Ekudden reportedly emphasised that the way forward is to promote innovations that benefit society as a whole.
"AI and AR need to follow clear guardrails for ethical data management, transparency and trustworthiness. Regulating the technology itself is, however, not the way forward. Instead, we need to promote innovation on top of the networks to capture the full benefits for society," the report cited Ericsson's CTO as saying.
The fifth edition of the GSS is being chaired by Rajkumar Upadhyay, CEO and Chairman of the Project Board at the Centre for Development of Telematics (C-DoT), and will take place from October 15 to 24, 2024, in New Delhi.
