Telefonica to Use Israeli Software to Cut Energy Costs

Israeli tech start-up eVolution Networks said it won a deal with Telefonica allowing the Spanish telecoms group to use its software to reduce energy consumption in cellular towers.

Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

eVolution said that once installed, Telefonica's base station energy consumption would drop by 35 percent, while also cutting associated energy costs.

The software solution reduces energy consumption on the cellular tower - or base station - level by deactivating the redundant capacity of base stations during low traffic.

The system's algorithms allow it to adapt capacity to network demand, ensuring that subscribers are provided with the same quality of service throughout the deactivation period.

Telefonica will begin to roll out the system across Latin America in the next few months, eVolution said.

It noted that today's networks are data hungry and consume significantly more energy than non-data networks, driving up operational expenses while cutting into operators' profitability.

The telecommunication industry is estimated to be responsible for 2.5 percent of global CO2 emission, eVolution said, citing data from the International Telecommunication Union (ITU).

(Reporting by Steven Scheer; Editing by Elaine Hardcastle)