Energy consumption of telecommunication access networks

Power consumption access network (100% of homes connected) Street cabinet Central office Max. ports VDSL2-Vectoring per street cabinet [W] Number of street cabinets Total VDSL2-Vectoring per street cabinet [W] Central office per subscriber 48 195 361 70,395 0.96 96 268 68 18,224 144 277 61 16,897 192 254 36 9,144 >192 291 12 3,492 Total 538 118,152 24,299 Total power consumption VDSL2-Vectoring [W] 142,451 Total power consumption VDSL2-Vectoring [kW] 142 Figure 16: Key figures of the power consumption of street cabinets by DSLAM size. After estimating the number of network elements, key figures for the power consumption for each DSLAM size have to be provided. This is shown in Figure 16. The used key figures were provided by different network operators and are measured values, experience values and manufacturer specifications. Firstly, it becomes clear that electrical efficiency increases with an increasing number of ports per DSLAM. Together with the DSLAM assignment in the classes in Figure 15, a chaining of inefficiencies of a rural VDSL2- Vectoring development is shown. Not only does a large number of small DSLAM sites have to be built for very few subscribers. In addition, these small DSLAMs are even more significantly electrically inefficient compared to the larger DSLAMs. Beside the DSLAM itself, the connection into the core network has to be considered too. According to the final report on the development of ICT-related electricity demand in Germany 1 , the access to the core network requires approximately 0.96 watts per subscriber. In total, the VDSL2-Vectoring access network has a power consumption of 142 kW in this model region – this corresponds to CO 2 emissions of approximately 482 tonnes 2 . 6.2.2 Customer premises equipment So that a user can actually use the access network, additional components such as modems and routers are required. This so-called customer premises equipment (CPE) also requires a power supply. The power supply is provided by the respective subscriber and is not charged to the network operator however, the power consumption for the CPE has to be included in the overall consideration, as without the CPE the subscriber into the network can establish no connection. Today most network operators use a combined modem router unit. According to technical specifications of different manufacturers, like AVM Fritzbox 7490 or the LANCOM 1781VA-4G, and the final report on the development of ICT-related electricity demand in Germany, the power consumption of a typical VDSL2- Vectoring CPE is about 10 watt (see also Chapter 7.1). With 25,311 subscribers and a single CPE power consumption of 10 watts, this leads to a total output of approximately 253 kW for the entire customer premises equipment in the model region. 25,311 CPE × 10 kW CPE = 253 kW 1 Entwicklung des IKT-bedingten Strombedarfs in Deutschland – Abschlussbericht; Studie im Auftrag des Bundesministeriums für Wirtschaft und Energie; Dr. Lutz Stobbe, Marina Proske, Hannes Zedel (Fraunhofer IZM), Dr. Ralph Hintemann, Dr. Jens Clausen, Dr. Severin Beucker (Borderstep); Berlin 2015 2 Strom- undWärmeversorgung in Zahlen; Bundesumweltamt; http://www.umweltbundesamt.de/themen/klima-energie/energieversorgung/ strom-waermeversorgung-in-zahlen#Strommix; last access: 01. August 2017 20