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Telenor highlights green transition riding on tech

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Telenor Group's scientific research unit 'Telenor Research' has unveiled the seventh edition of 'Tech Trends', highlighting how technology and digitalisation can enable a green transformation which they believe will define the upcoming year.

Grameenphone revealed the research findings through an event at GPHouse, head office of the telecom operator, in the capital on Monday.

The five anticipated Tech Trends for 2022 revealed at the event are: green clouds on the horizon, big appetite for climate micro-degrees, optimising everything, greenfluencers, and new dimension of social relations.

Bjørn Taale Sandberg, head of Telenor Research, virtually presented a keynote paper at the programme, attended by Zunaid Ahmed Palak, State Minister for ICT, as the chief guest.

In the keynote presentation, Bjørn Taale Sandberg said, "We predict that 5G networks worldwide will have the capability to do local breakout of data traffic to and from Edge data centres."

He said there was higher energy demand due to the immense growth in data usage and hence, cloud computing had seen exponential growth.

In addition, edge computing is expected to take over by an acceptable margin in the coming year, he further said.

"We believe that energy-efficient edge data centres reachable from mobile devices over 5G networks will start popping up, at an increasing rate, in 2022, so, energy will also be saved in data distribution networks since part of the data traffic and electricity will be transferred locally only."

He also said a growing number of businesses would implement green micro-degrees and courses as part of their 'curriculum' to slake the green knowledge thirst among employees.

"Since transforming our energy supply will take time, we need to optimise everything - not least the use of energy by our devices," warns Mr Sandberg.

"Going forward, more companies will put enormous sums of money on the table to acquire the knowledge and assets needed to come out on top of the optimisation battle."

The head of Telenor Research said influencers, who appear oblivious or indifferent to climate challenges, would be perceived as outdated.

"Instead, followers will flock to influencers who demonstrate climate awareness regardless of niche," he said, adding that marketers would turn their attention in the same direction.

He said during the continuation of the pandemic, it would be tough for the young to establish and grow a personal network and acquire a general understanding of the corporate lingo and culture, as forming new social relations using only digital communication was much more challenging.

"Many companies will in 2022 find that large groups of young employees who never got a proper onboarding are likely to struggle - unless good leadership is exercised," Mr Sandberg added.

Speaking on the occasion, Brig Gen Md Nasim Parvez, DG (Systems and Services) of BTRC, focused on the four core elements - energy efficiency, sight-level innovations, RAN (Radio Access Network) and network equipment innovation, and better network planning and optimisation.

In his speech, Kamal Quadir, CEO of bKash, said, "With the five tech trends, Telenor has come up with a lot of ideas."

He said the concept of 'greenfluencer' was quite interesting.

"Everyone must take the necessary steps to make this concept popular in our country. And by working together, we will be able to spread the word of energy efficiency among all and consequently build a sustainable world," he added.

Syeda Rizwana Hasan, chief executive of BELA, said, "At present, e-waste is one of the main causes of environmental degradation."

Telecom operators need to be aware so that radiation from towers does not cause harm to human health, she said.

Dr Qazi Kholiquzzaman Ahmad, chairman of PKSF, said, "We can improve this situation by taking environment-friendly measures."

"Educational institutions and training centres need to focus on offering climate micro-degrees and courses, which will help people learn how to use technology to solve climate problems," he stated.

Yasir Azman, the CEO of Grameenphone, said this year's tech projections showed how technology and digitalisation could play a pivotal role in making data transfer more energy-efficient.

Climate enlightenment through digital micro-degrees and greenfluencers are some of the trends that will deliver a more sustainable future, he added.

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