Smart Communications, a subsidiary of PLDT Inc., said it deployed a new “green radio” solution across its network that uses artificial intelligence (AI) to optimize energy consumption and reduce carbon emissions.
“Smart’s nationwide network is supported with advance & intelligent functionalities maximizing operational efficiencies. Running the network constantly even when traffic is much lower, especially during evening hours, is costly and inefficient in the use of network resources. Our green radio innovation is proven to harness artificial intelligence to track activity on our network so that we can reduce the power consumption of our cell sites whenever they are not being fully utilized,” PLDT and Smart head of network quality Radames Zalameda said.
“This means that certain elements of a cell site are turned off when demand is low but are automatically switched on when demand comes back. Combined with Smart’s Self-Organizing Network [SON], this also enables us to adjust the capacity of the cell sites as needed to support data traffic,” he said.
Intelligent and automated shutdowns, sleep, adaptive power to traffic consumption and multilayer radio power optimization are among the newest eco-friendly innovations that Smart has implemented on its network to help cut its energy cost.
The AI-powered solution, piloted nationwide in 2023, enables remote and automatic adjustments to capacity and power usage depending on load conditions, which enables the company to consolidate and conserve radio resources.
The solution is also radio coverage sensitive, which maintains network availability and is scalable with increased usage. It also has a time-based activation capability, allowing Smart to choose which time to turn the solution on or off, based on the traffic trend.
Smart said that over the last 12 months after implementing the green network innovation, it reduced power consumption by around 10,900 megawatt hours, equivalent to greenhouse gas emissions from more than 1,690 gasoline-powered vehicles driven for a year or carbon dioxide emissions from electricity consumption of 920 homes for a year.