EU Issues Power Consumption Guidelines

The EU continues to lead in environmental and ecologically friendly regulations. This month, an EU commission published a report titled “Code of Conduct on Energy Consumption of Broadband Equipment”.

The report sets out guidelines for power consumption for a range of broadband equipment in the home. The report suggests there is a ‘low power’ state along with an ‘on’ state for devices to save power, and recommends a decrease in power usage over time.

The report recommends that femtocells use less than 9.0/9.0 watts (standby/on) in the first phase through 2010, dropping to 7.0/8.0 watts in 2011.

Ironically, the report suggests 802.11 b/g interfaces draw 1.0/2.0 watts initially, dropping to 0.7/2.0 in 2011. Talk about a green technology…

Wi-Fi Stays Strong

The EU recently finished a study of telecom in the EU27 countries. The full study is published here in PDF.

One interesting statistic is the penetration of Wi-Fi into households with internet access. Within the EU27, 46% of households with internet access have Wi-Fi. As one would expect, the number actually goes up to nearly half (48%) when looking at just the EU15.

Topping the list in terms of penetration is Spain (68%) and France (67%), with Luxembourg at the top with 75% of internet enabled households using Wi-Fi.

It’s no wonder that Berg Insight projected Wi-Fi in handsets to grow at a CAGR of 71% over the next four years. By 2012, Berg projects 400 million handsets with Wi-Fi. The primary drivers are high speed interent access in the home/office, and ‘connected home’ applications.