为网络设备创造循环经济

Each year, up to one million base stations globally are retired.Most of the equipment is lost to waste – not because it’s unusable,but because operators lack the data to reuse it safely. Executive Summary Across the industry, operators decommission or modernisehundreds of thousands of base station sites every year. Yet, mostof the equipment is discarded, rather than redeployed, eventhough it has technical potential. That’s because many mobileoperators lack trusted systems for checking compatibility,enabling traceability, and measuring carbon impact. In parallel, GRiD can serve as thefoundation for AI-driven digitaltwins, enabling operators toquery their inventories inreal-time, anticipate supply needs,predict faults, and continuouslymonitor assets throughouttheir lifecycle. NetLife says thecombination of GRiD precisionand AI intelligence can be acatalyst for industry-wide Scope3 reductions and circular supplychain resilience. While the current focusis on supporting mobile networkoperators, NetLife is alsoexpanding the GRiD system tocover AI data centres andrenewable power assets. –The use of GRiDgrouping means 62% fewerSKUs are needed–Reusing GRiD-matchedequivalents results in costsavings of 55%–The use of GRiD can reduceCO2emissions by 60% A more systematic approachcould unlock enormous benefits.A Telia-Accenture study2estimated that embeddingcircularity in telecom operationscould generate US$20–30 billionin value through infrastructureresale, waste reduction, andsmarter installations. NetLife is now working withmobile operators to build aCircular Alliance - a trustedecosystem designed to providetraceability, transparency andassurance to enable networkequipment to be safely reusedand repurposed across different,and even competing, telecomsgroups. To help realise this opportunity,NetLife and Safaricom, Kenya’sleading operator, are workingtogether to demonstrate howGRiD3, a universal equipmentidentifier, can enable large-scalereuse and refurbishment oftelecom network assets. The pilottested the use of GRiD to matchparts for equivalence, circularcompatibility, and emissionsmodelling. NetLife says its pilotwith Safaricom has demonstratedhow GRiD can transform spareparts management, highlightingthe following three key findings: These results underline thepotential of the GRiD systemto optimise spare partsmanagement, reduce costs,and significantly improvesustainability, according toNetLife. recycled than network equipment.By taking a much more system-atic approach to asset reuse andrecycling, the telecoms industrycould realise major environmentaland economic benefits, as well asimprove operational agility. Mobile operators decommissionor upgrade hundreds ofthousands of base stationsannually. Minimising cost andenvironmental footprint meansprioritising refurbishment, reuse,and recycling in line with thecircular economy principles. According to consultancyMcKinsey, “top performerscan achieve up to 30–40%improvement in capex efficiencythrough smarter deployment,procurement, and infrastructurepartnerships.6” Some telcos arerealising this potential: MTN hasimplemented Project Infinity,which diverted 130,442,447 KGof network waste from landfill in20247, while Orange has avoided€130 million in capital costssince 2020 through its OSCARprogramme7to develop thecircular economy for networkequipment. These examplesreinforce the findings of anAccenture-Telia report, whichhighlights the opportunities fromthe resale of infrastructure andwaste mitigation in infrastructureinstallation (see graphic). But, in reality, most networkequipment is only deployed once.Telcos generally sell retirednetwork equipment to brokers,who then resell it. However, lessthan half of the removed assetsare actually tracked through therecovery process, according toNetLife, which specialises inidentifying and tracing networkassets. This deficit reflectssignificant gaps in operators’ dataon their inventories and relatedsupply chains. For example,operators may lack informationon hardware and softwarecompatibility, resulting inconsiderable waste. Weak qualitycontrol is another factor – 25% ofthe returned assets are faulty,according to NetLife. 4Circle Economy (2023). The Circularity Gap Report 2023 (pp. 1-64, Rep.). Amsterdam: CircleEconomy. Retrieved from: https://www.circularity-gap.world/2023. Accessed: September 19, 2025. Today, only about 7% of theglobal economy is truly circular,meaning that end-of-life prod-ucts are fully reused, recycledor repurposed, according to theCircularity Gap Report4. In thetelecoms sector, that figure is lessthan 20%5, and end-user devicesare far more likely to be reused or 5World Economic Forum (2022). E-Waste 101: Everything You Need to Know. Geneva: WorldEconomic Forum. Retrieved from: https://www.weforum.org/stories/2022/12/e-waste-electronic-climate-recycling/. Accessed: September 19, 2025 6Gaffey, B., Patel, D., Cubela, S., & Lajous, T. (2025). Pushing telcos’ AI envelope on capital decisions.McKinsey