“Telecom networks run on electricity.” recalls Fabien Dulac, executive director of Orange France. In the event of a power outage, telephones will no longer work, as will internet connections. The fact that smartphones have batteries does not change that.
Until that point is reached, the question is whether any offloading work will actually be carried out this winter by RTE and how much it will be assessed. Power outages are the latest measure being considered by the power company, for one to six days this winter. Specifically, 12,000 subscriber “plates” can be affected within two hours. A period of time during which the equipment will no longer be supplied with electricity. Without an internet box, there is no more Wi-Fi at home or in the company. Cell phones may also not work, as the mobile antennas of the telecom operators will no longer be powered. A customer in the blackout zone will no longer have a means of communication. Telecommunications operators continue to emphasize that they cannot make emergency calls anymore.
“We are the only operator whose 27,000 antennas are equipped with batteries.”, adds Fabien Dulac. But these batteries are “prostate glands“Even if, in fact, they can bring up to 20 minutes of autonomy to the installations. For some, these antennas mounted on building roofs cannot accommodate additional equipment, particularly due to available space and weight. Not to mention the drastic environmental impact that mass deployment of batteries by telecom operators will have.
Livebox deep standby
Orange’s larger sites used for fixed networks are equipped with larger capacity batteries. “We have suggested RTE to take special load shedding measures in case of peak consumption– explains Fabien Dulac. These “big” sites can switch to their own batteries to take off the national grid.
The group also encourages its customers to implement energy saving measures, particularly by activatingdeep sleep» in the latest generation of Liveboxes. This function enables, for example, to save 95% of energy during the standby period of Livebox 6.
“Orange represents just 0.4% of France’s energy consumption– says its CEO. Like its competitors, Orange has been increasing its efforts to reduce energy costs for several years. The development of new technologies, 4G and then 5G or fiber optic communication, more efficient than previous generations, contribute to the control of consumption. “Between 2019 and 2022, our energy consumption has remained stable despite a 40 percent annual increase in traffic on our mobile networks.”, illustrated by Fabien Dulac. Between 2014 and 2022, the energy required to transport one gigabyte of data has even divided by ten. Finally, decommissioning the copper network used for ADSL in favor of fiber will allow new savings to be made.
Source: Le Figaro
I am David Wyatt, a professional writer and journalist for Buna Times. I specialize in the world section of news coverage, where I bring to light stories and issues that affect us globally. As a graduate of Journalism, I have always had the passion to spread knowledge through writing.