In this exclusive interview, ZTE explains Asia’s evolving network energy requirements, from the current requirements set by 3G and 4G to the challenging and exciting vision of 5G networks. With power requirements set to increase exponentially, the modularity and scalability of power systems become even more critical, and keeping a tight grip on the Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) will require increasing deployment of Network Energy Management systems based on big data analysis.
TowerXchange: Please introduce ZTE, particularly in terms of the solutions you propose for tower companies.
Ma Guangji, Vice President and General Manager of Energy Products, ZTE:
The ZTE energy product line mainly provides communication energy solutions and integrated data centre solutions. The communication energy offering includes:
- Large power supply for central computer rooms/data centres
- High voltage DC power supply
- Indoor and outdoor power supply for macro base-stations
- Embedded power supply
- Wall-mounted power supply for micro base station and PAD power supply
- SmartLi series batteries
- Hybrid energy solutions and network energy management solutions
Over the years, tower companies have become important players in the construction and management of mobile communication network infrastructure. We have some cooperation with global tower companies, while China Tower Corporation is also one of ZTE’s important customers in our domestic market. The energy sharing and network energy management solutions provided by ZTE help towercos to provide a stable power supply while ensuring the effective management of multi-operator cell sites.
TowerXchange: Can you share some success stories illustrating your experience and scale in Asia?
Ma Guangji, Vice President and General Manager of Energy Products, ZTE:
Asia is ZTE’s largest and most important regional market. Aside from China, Asia accounts for half of our international sales.
ZTE has in-depth cooperation with Pakistani MNOs TP and Cmpak, Myanmar’s KSGM and Mytel, Indonesia’s Telkomsel, Indosat and SmartFren, Vietnam’s Viettel as well as Ture and AIS in Thailand, Digi in Malaysia and Softbank in Japan among many other regional customers.
ZTE is also one of the most important power solution suppliers of these MNOs on their 2G, 3G and 4G networks and we have developed and provided many power supply and hybrid energy solutions for their networks. In addition, ZTE has carried out cooperative research and planning with these customers in the 5G network power supply field.
TowerXchange: What are the most attractive markets for ZTE in Asia and where do you see the main opportunities for the future?
Ma Guangji, Vice President and General Manager of Energy Products, ZTE:
In recent years, the communications industry has developed rapidly in several Asian countries, and nearly every country is an important market that we focus on. With the in-depth coverage of 4G networks and the start of 5G deployment, light asset operations have become popular across MNOs, while towercos are increasing their penetration in various countries as you can see with IGT and Apollo in Myanmar or edotco in Malaysia and the other countries where the company operates. Therefore, our collaborations and synergies with towercos is the most important and exciting business opportunity in Asia at the moment.
TowerXchange: As Asia evolves from 3G to 4G and eventually 5G, what are the critical considerations for towercos in terms of the changing configuration of antenna on their towers, the weight and power load of that equipment?
Ma Guangji, Vice President and General Manager of Energy Products, ZTE:
With the construction of the 4G/5G network, the 2G network will gradually stop operation, and the corresponding antenna system will eventually be dismantled. At the same time, multi-frequency antenna applications mean 3G/4G base stations can share antennas, so the tower load will not increase significantly. With the construction of a 5G network, the power consumption of 5G equipment is greatly increased compared with that of 4G equipment. For example, the power consumption of a single S111 station is about 4,000W. In addition, 5G network construction will first expand on existing 4G sites, so the overall power sites consumption will increase dramatically. The sufficiency of electric capacity, stability and management of site power supply are the main issues to be considered in the future.
Moreover, towerco’s service will shift from leasing the previous site space to the energy streamline operation. Energy sharing and co-construction, energy efficiencies, modular capacity expansion and network management will become critical for towercos.
TowerXchange: How does Asia compared to Africa as a region in terms of maturity, technological requirements and challenges?
Ma Guangji, Vice President and General Manager of Energy Products, ZTE:
Compared to Africa, Asia has a relatively rapid population and economic growth and networks are more robust and developed. The region is more maturated and more developed from a technological point of view as 5G has been deployed in China, Japan and other countries already. In addition, the grid is often better than many countries in Africa, apart from some specific exceptions, and that helps with tower rollouts. Site sharing and construction of new sites are easier, which create big opportunities for lar-scale rollout.
TowerXchange: How should cell site energy systems be designed in terms of modularity and scalability to accommodate multiple tenants?
Ma Guangji, Vice President and General Manager of Energy Products, ZTE:
With the development and construction of the 4G/5G network, especially the evolution from 4G to 5G, and multi-tenant applications, energy systems must be modular and scalable. This mainly applies to the site control management unit, power conversion system, and energy storage system.
Control management is key for any site. Regardless of the increase of power requirements and the increase in tenants, unified control and unified management systems must be enabled. At the same time, the solution should have the characteristics of multi-system, multi-energy input, hybrid energy control management, meticulous measurement and management of multi-tenants, multi-mode networking, et cetera.
The design of power conversion systems should consider DC distribution modularisation, power unit modularisation, power sub-rack modularisation, and AC input unit modularisation and expansion.
The design of the energy storage system mainly considers the hybrid application of batteries, without an external switching unit, the direct mixing of lead acid and lithium-ion batteries, the direct mixing of old and new lithium-ion batteries, and the smooth expansion of the energy storage system.
TowerXchange: Towercos and MNOs increasingly realise that optimising opex is not just about energy efficiency, but about improving cell site autonomy and reducing O&M costs. How has ZTE been able to support TCO reductions?
Ma Guangji, Vice President and General Manager of Energy Products, ZTE:
In the past, capex and opex were mainly used to evaluate the energy supply of typical cell sites, and players used to optimise their TCO by selecting various solutions and adjusting their configurations.
In recent years, ZTE’s Network Energy Management Solutions have evolved to include six functional modules:
- Network monitoring
- Energy efficiency improvement
- Operation and Maintenance (O&M) management
- Operational management
- Site security
- Asset management
These six modules are based on large data analysis and are business-oriented, thereby helping towercos and operators achieve multi-level and refined energy management of their entire network. The overall efficiency of energy, operation and maintenance of the whole network has been improved, which greatly reduces the total cost of investment.
TowerXchange: Please share ZTE’s vision for cooperation with tower companies.
Ma Guangji, Vice President and General Manager of Energy Products, ZTE:
ZTE’s cooperation with tower companies has a bright and promising future. In China, ZTE has deeply cooperated with China Tower Corporation and has become one of the most important suppliers of energy equipment and solutions since then. At the same time, ZTE has maintained cooperation and joint research on network energy development planning and several innovative topics. Internationally, ZTE has a certain degree of cooperation with Asian, European, African and South American towercos. With the rapid development of 5G construction in the next two to three years, ZTE will further deepen and broaden its cooperation with tower companies and jointly contribute to the development of global telecommunications infrastructure.
