The Information and Communications Technology (ICT) sector in the Middle East and Africa is rapidly accelerating its green transformation, laying the groundwork for an intelligent and sustainable digital future. Industry leaders, including standards organizations, research bodies, operators, and telecom site energy infrastructure providers, are intensifying efforts to tackle rising energy consumption, high operational costs, and unstable power grids. This collective drive focuses on intelligent upgrades, accelerating green initiatives, and ensuring the safety of critical energy solutions like lithium batteries.
Economy ME recently attended the 9th Global ICT Energy Efficiency Summit in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, held under the theme “Green Site, Building an Intelligent Future.” This pivotal event gathered experts to tackle critical discussions on ICT energy infrastructure upgrades, covering intelligent upgrades, green acceleration, and lithium battery security.
At the summit, several key players showcased their contributions to this green transformation:
- Global technology group e& reaffirmed its commitment to achieving net-zero operations in the UAE by 2030. They’ve already built the world’s first end-to-end green zone at Expo City Dubai—a pilot project aiming for net-zero, including the region’s first 5G net-zero site, powered entirely by solar energy. Beyond the UAE, e& is exploring scalable, energy-efficient network models for international markets, aligning green innovation with its broader sustainability goals.
- Zain Group demonstrated how they’re aligning with their net-zero goals by shifting from large shelters to smaller outdoor cabinets and pole-mounted configurations. Moving base stations outdoors significantly reduces cooling needs and power consumption. Zain has also deployed solar hybrid solutions for green power and increased site backup time with new Power-RAN synergy technology.
- Huawei, participating as a leading ICT and clean energy solution provider, showcased its end-to-end solutions designed to help carriers and tower operators overcome energy challenges. The company emphasized how its simplified, green, resilient, and reliable solutions, leveraging AI and intelligent management platforms, enable efficient energy transformation and promote the development of greener, low-carbon networks essential for sustainable growth towards a fully connected, intelligent world.
The adoption of new energy technologies, alongside advancements in 5G-Advanced and AI, is enabling the development of more efficient and low-carbon networks, offering simplified, green, resilient, and reliable energy infrastructure crucial for regions striving for digital inclusion and economic growth. For e& and its peers, intelligent energy management and high safety standards for energy storage are critical in delivering resilient infrastructure while progressing toward net-zero ambitions. By prioritizing intelligent energy management and robust energy storage safety standards, the ICT industry is making significant strides towards achieving net-zero emissions and fostering sustainable development across these vital regions.
