Ericsson persists with green messaging for its latest radio launch

Swedish kit vendor Ericsson claims to have raised the sustainability bar with the launch of the Radio 6646.

Ticking the eco box has been a marketing priority for Ericsson this year, forming the core theme of its otherwise subdued MWC presence and associated product launches. The new Radio 6646 combines three radio band and three sectors, thus enabling it to take the place of nine single-band, single-sector radios, we’re told. Such compression of functions is presumably handy for a number of reasons, not least cost, but Ericsson has chosen once more to focus on ‘sustainability’.

“Our new energy-efficient radio uniquely combines spectrum capabilities in an easy-to-install form factor,” said David Hammarwall, Head of Product Area Networks at Ericsson. “This will simplify deployments and extend 5G coverage, starting in Europe. With this latest innovation, service providers can scale up 5G Standalone deployments with new applications for consumers, enterprises, and mission-critical communications.”

The specific frequencies covered by the 6646 are the 700, 800 and 900 MHz bands. In that respect it would appear to complement the 6626, which is also tri-sector but deals with the 800MHz and 2100MHz frequency ranges. Triple-sector radios apparently use 40% less power and are much lighter than their single-sector equivalents. That seems like a strong selling point in the current energy-starved climate.

In previous years Ericsson’s messaging focused more on the weight of its new radios and how much money its customers can save from the resulting ease with which they can lug the units around. It could be that weight is still a greater concern for most operators rolling out their 5G networks, but the increasingly voracious demands of CSR departments demand they at least pretend ‘sustainability’ is their paramount concern, as opposed to simply wanting to pay less for power.

Get the latest news straight to your inbox. Register for the Telecoms.com newsletter here.