The GSMA Equipment Marketplace cloud-based platform will help telecommunications providers around the world reuse, redistribute and recycle their network assets.
February 27, Barcelona: The GSMA today launched a network equipment trading platform to help the telecommunications industry achieve its financial and environmental sustainability goals, in partnership with solutions provider Shields Environmental Group (Shields).
The global cloud-based platform, called GSMA Equipment Marketplace, will help telecommunications providers around the world reuse, redeploy and recycle their network assets, while helping them achieve their net zero environmental goals and ensure financial sustainability.
By making the service available to its member base of more than 1,000 mobile operators and equipment manufacturers around the world, the GSMA hopes that the service can transform the way networks (fixed, mobile or private) are acquired and decommissioned. ). In turn, this will support the industry in its ambitions to reduce carbon emissions and minimize the extraction of environmentally harmful raw materials used to manufacture telecommunications equipment.
The GSMA estimates that the manufacturing of network equipment (including mining and processing of materials) and the construction of network sites and mobile antennas account for more than 30 million tonnes of CO2e per year[1]. Supply chain emissions represent the majority of a telecommunications network operator's carbon footprint, in some cases reaching more than 80% of the total. GSMA Equipment Marketplace can help reduce these figures by enabling operators to reuse and recycle more of their assets, helping to support the industry to achieve its ambition of being net zero emissions by 2050 at the latest.[2].
John Giusti, Chief Regulatory Officer and GSMA Climate Action Sponsor, said: “The industry continues to take strong and concerted action to meet its Net Zero commitments. Transitioning to a more circular economy business model can help operators further reduce their emissions by reducing reliance on carbon-intensive equipment manufacturing. “We believe this new platform from GSMA and Shields can support telecoms network providers in their efforts to reduce carbon emissions and limit their dependence on raw material extraction.”
How GSMA Equipment Marketplace can help the telecom industry achieve Net Zero goals
Vodafone Group is already successfully using the GSMA Equipment Marketplace platform, and GSMA and Shields have today revealed plans to make it available to the industry as a whole.
Ninian Wilson, Global Supply Chain Director and CEO of Vodafone Procurement Company, said: “This platform has successfully helped Vodafone reuse, resell and recycle decommissioned network equipment since we started using it in 2021. It has provided new revenue and savings opportunities, while helping to reduce our carbon footprint. We are delighted to see this platform opening up to serve businesses across our industry, enabling a more circular economy for larger scale network equipment.”
The cloud-based platform, created and managed by Shields, the market leader in this field, provides a global view of assets and equipment, including real-time visibility into stock. Users can search for the individual assets needed, view the results in a simple, intuitive interface, identify the most efficient and cost-effective source of the needed products, and submit an order. Additionally, users can sell dismantled equipment to a global buyer base or recycle it.
Network operators can then quantify their carbon emissions reduction based on the total weight of assets purchased or disposed of through the GSMA Equipment Marketplace, rather than purchasing new. This evidence can then be incorporated into company reporting to highlight the brand's commitment to the environment and the tangible progress made towards carbon targets.
Daniel Jones, CEO of Shields, said: “Shields is passionate about helping build a more sustainable telecommunications industry, through continuous innovation to provide structural support to improve the way networks are procured and maintained. We are extremely proud and excited to partner with GSMA. Our commitment is assured, together we will ensure that this digital platform and the associated managed services are of the highest quality and allow operators to maintain the integrity of their network..”
The GSMA Commitment: Helping the telecommunications industry reduce its carbon footprint
The GSMA has long been a champion of climate action, supporting mobile network operators to set carbon reduction targets aligned with 1.5°C. More than 70 operators have already done so, covering almost half of the world's mobile connections.
In addition to the launch of Equipment Marketplace, the GSMA has also published its fourth annual report “Mobile Net Zero: State of the industry on climate action“ report today, showing that carbon emissions from mobile network operators fell by 6% globally between 2019-2022.
Last year, the GSMA and mobile operators launched an initiative to target the more than five billion mobile phones, currently sitting unused in desk drawers around the world, so they can be reused or recycled , as part of a more “circular” supply chain.
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About the GSMA
The GSMA is a global organization that unifies the mobile ecosystem to discover, develop and deliver critical innovation for positive business environments and social change. Our vision is to unlock the full power of connectivity so that people, industry and society thrive. Representing mobile operators and organizations across the mobile ecosystem and adjacent industries, the GSMA offers its members three broad pillars: connectivity for good, industry services and solutions, and outreach. This activity includes advancing policy, addressing today's biggest societal challenges, supporting the technology and interoperability that make mobile devices work, and providing the world's largest platform to convene the mobile ecosystem at the MWC and M360 series of events.
We invite you to learn more at gsma.com
Contact: Dan Thomas
E: press [email protected]
About shields
Shields has more than 40 years developing and implementing telecommunications solutions that reduce costs, improve profitability and guarantee the highest standards of environmental care. Focusing specifically on the requirements of operators around the planet, Shields works with networks to develop efficient processes that have sustainability at their core.
Consultations: Beth Arundell
Email: [email protected]
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