Telcaria, Ericsson partner to drive innovation in 5G energy efficiency

Ericsson and Telcaria, Spanish telecommunications R&D specialist and collaborator of the 5TONIC co-innovation lab, have partnered to develop new ways of improving the energy efficiency of 5G networks.

The partnership is part of a larger project researching future wireless networking called ‘6G DAWN’, which began in 2022 and is overseen by non-profit research institution CTTC. It is funded under the Spanish Government’s Recovery, Transformation, and Resilience Plan via the UNICO I+D 5G program.

Together, Ericsson and Telcaria are exploring how to optimize private 5G networks to use less energy without affecting network performance, for delivering traffic speeds of 1 Gigabit per second over mid-band spectrum. The partners are adopting a public-private integrated network (PNI-NPN) approach, for improving the observability and predictability of network utilization, network performance and network energy consumption.

To test and validate these enhancements in a live environment, a private 5G network has been installed on CTTC premises, connected to 5TONIC lab where advanced technologies including Network Digital Twin and Network Exposure are deployed.

Maria Felisa Sedano, CEO at Telcaria, says, "This collaboration represents a great opportunity for us to explore new challenges in energy efficiency within the future of cellular networks, ultimately unlocking new possibilities and strengthening our cooperation with Ericsson."

5G is the most energy efficient mobile network technology. Its streamlined architecture and advanced artificial intelligence and machine learning (AI/ML) features make 5G more than 10 times more energy efficient per gigabyte of traffic compared to 4G. For enterprises across various industries, embracing 5G can lead to significant cost savings by enhancing the efficiency and sustainability of their business operations.

Manuel Lorenzo, Head of Technology & Innovation at Ericsson Spain, says: “Ericsson and Telcaria have opened new avenues for enhancing 5G network energy efficiency, enabled by the application of instrumental technologies such as PNI-NPN, Network Digital Twin and Exposure for Private Network capabilities.”

Ericsson’s Private 5G networks are the next-generation connectivity solutions tailored to drive Industry 4.0 and the modernization and digitalization of infrastructures for business-critical operations. Organizations gain secure and powerful 4G LTE and 5G standalone (SA) connectivity enabling a wide variety of use case solutions, both indoor and outdoor, to optimize and simplify operations with reliability, flexibility, low latency, and security along with Ericsson’s best in class radio portfolio.