The platform increases industry circularity, while allowing users to generate new revenue from decommissioned equipment and save costs on network upgrades.
October 8, 2024, MWC Las Vegas 2024: CommScope, through its Outdoor Wireless Networks business segment, is the latest partner to sign up for the GSMA Equipment Marketplace, a cloud-based platform that allows businesses to buy, reuse, resell and recycle their network assets, while helping them achieve their goals. net zero environmental goals and ensure financial sustainability.
With the addition of CommScope's outdoor wireless business, the total number of partners using the service rises to 41, including ProLabs and Vodafone. This indicates the telecommunications industry's commitment to reaching net zero by 2050. There are currently four million devices registered on the GSMA Equipment Marketplace that can be reused by other operators, and 350,000 devices have already been sold over the past year. .
Launched earlier this year in partnership with Shields Environmental Group, GSMA Equipment Marketplace aims to transform the way networks (fixed, mobile and private) are acquired and decommissioned; In turn, this will minimize the extraction of environmentally harmful raw materials used to manufacture network equipment and help operators meet their environmental sustainability goals.
The platform provides a global view of assets and equipment, including real-time stock visibility. Buyers can search for individual parts, identify the most efficient and cost-effective source of the required products, and then submit their order. The portal can also be used to sell dismantled equipment to a global customer base or to recycle equipment that has reached the end of its life cycle.
GSMA Climate Action Director Steven Moore said: “The outdoor wireless business of CommScope and others signing up to use the GSMA Equipment Marketplace is a promising sign of the mobile industry's desire to embrace circular business models. “We welcome more operators and equipment manufacturers coming on board to help the industry reduce carbon emissions and reliance on virgin materials in the coming years.”
Michael Wolfe, vice president and chief technology officer at CommScope, said: “Equipment manufacturers have a responsibility to lead by example and design products with adaptability and recyclability in mind, but even the best planned and designed components eventually need to be updated. This does not mean that they no longer have value; GSMA Equipment Marketplace is a win-win, allowing us to extend solution lifecycles, maximize resource efficiency and minimize our environmental impact..”
The mobile industry's path to net zero
In 2019, the GSMA Board set an ambition for the mobile sector to reach net zero carbon emissions by 2050. Achieving this goal depends on the industry reducing its emissions to 45% below 2020 levels by 2030; This means that total emissions (including Scopes 1, 2 and 3) must be reduced by around 7% per year until 2030.
While progress has been made (operators in Europe, North America, Latin America, the Middle East and North Africa reduced their Scope 1 and 2 emissions by 20% to 50% between 2019 and 2022), there is still a long way to go, particularly when it comes to emissions from the industry's Scope 3 supply chain.
Increasing the circularity of network equipment and mobile devices is critical to reducing Scope 3 emissions, which account for three-quarters of the mobile industry's total carbon output. The GSMA estimates that the manufacturing of network equipment and the construction of network sites and mobile antennas accounts for 30 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent per year; GSMA Equipment Marketplace can help reduce these numbers by extending the life of network equipment through reuse and recycling.
In addition to the GSMA Equipment Marketplace, last year the GSMA announced two circularity goals focused on extending the life of mobile phones. It is estimated that 85% of phones are not formally recycled, and the GSMA estimates that there are currently more than five billion unused mobile devices worldwide. The two goals aim to increase the number of devices collected through take-back programs by operators and prevent devices from ending up in landfills or being incinerated; As of September 2024, 16 leading operators (including BT Group, Deutsche Telekom, NTT Docomo, Orange, Singtel, Telefónica and more) have signed up to the targets.
The GSMA will host a fireside chat at MWC Las Vegas on Thursday the 10thth October, titled: “Circularity is the answer to your sustainability challenges.” During the session, Jason Smith and Shamit Bhat from GSMA will join speakers including Rebekah Griffiths from Assurant, Seth Heine from PrologMobile and Martin Zimmerman from Outdoor Wireless Networks, to discuss our position on circularity and how their respective organizations are contributing to it. aim.
Learn more about the mobile industry's climate action and circularity initiatives here.
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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.
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