ABI Research has released a study called “North American Green Carriers” and it states that it “ranks operators on their environmentally friendly, clean technology initiatives primarily focused around green network infrastructure, green network equipment, green handsets and handset recycling.”
The focus was on North America and gave a list of top 10 organizations. Senior analyst Aditya Kaul said “AT&T leads the matrix as the greenest operator in North America followed closely by Sprint Nextel. AT&T takes a slight lead over Sprint partly due to its focus on green innovation and R&D. AT&T has already implemented programs and defined goals in the green network infrastructure area. AT&T has also defined new metrics to measure carbon reduction. Sprint, however, gets special credit in the areas of green handsets, handset recycling, green buildings, and green IT.”
But where did our Canadian carriers come into at? Well, Telus came in 5th spot overall, followed by Rogers at 6th place and then Bell at 7th. It’s widely known that TELUS has a strong corporate responsibility stance. They have won many awards for their environmental and community work. Even on their website they state “TELUS is committed to being an environmental leader. We embrace our responsibility, integrating environmental considerations into our business and offering innovative communications solutions while protecting the environment. Striving for continuous improvement will guide our approach”.
When it comes to actual devices that labeled “green”, Fido (owned by Rogers) has the only one in market today. The Motorola W233 Renew is a candy bar style phone that’s Carbon Free and made with recycled water bottles. On September 17th Bell will exclusively release their first eco-friendly device, the Samsung Reclaim. We unboxed this yesterday and must admit this is the most stylish green device we’ve seen yet. It doesn’t compromise style. The Reclaim is made from corn based bio-plastic materials and 80% of the device is recyclable.
The study showed that each organization was analyzed by parameters of “innovation” and “implementation”. For “innovation” the “operators’ innovative applications or uses of technology for green networks; the direct or indirect impact on green innovations for the supplier value chain; innovative metrics used by the operators for the measurement of carbon/energy reduction, their activities in smart grid networks, their green networks R&D, and “other” green R&D.”
Under “implementation” was calculated by the following criteria: green mobile network infrastructure; green buildings and facilities; green IT; handset/battery/accessory recycling; the operators’ teleworking and teleconferencing initiatives; the greenness of their transport fleets and logistics; their green handset, content and user-awareness strategies, and green packaging.”
Here is a list of the top 10 carriers in order:
1. AT&T Wireless
2. Sprint Nextel Corporation
3. Verizon Wireless: USA
4. T-Mobile: USA
5. Telus
6. Rogers Wireless
7. Bell Mobility: Canada
8. MetroPCS
9. Leap Wireless
10. US Cellular
More here at ABI
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