Efficiency

Türk Telekom continued to expand its next generation cities activities

Türk Telekom invests in smart city technologies that will support sustainable construction, efficient and high-quality cities. The Company leads the largest smart cities projects in Turkey with solutions suitable for the next generation urbanisation approach. The range of solutions offered by the next generation city technologies under the headings of transportation, security, energy, health, environment and life was expanded in 2021. The smart solutions implemented by Türk Telekom in 13 cities in new generation transportation, energy, environment, health and safety under the Next Generation City Platform, contribute to the construction of sustainable and safe cities with high quality of life.

While spreading the concept of smart city technologies in Turkey, Türk Telekom further develops the ecosystem by supporting domestic and national solution partners. With the smart solutions implemented by the Company, 40% in electricity and 30% in irrigation of resource savings have been achieved in municipalities so far.

Türk Telekom manages the services within the scope of smart city solutions through the city management platform. The platform enables single centred monitoring, management and integration of different urban planning applications. The collected data enables city administrations to make forward looking decisions.

In 2021, Türk Telekom included Konya Metropolitan Municipality, Kocaeli Metropolitan Municipality and Kırıkkale Municipality into the next generation city journey with the electronic supervision system, one of the components of next generation city transportation. With next generation city furniture and mobile application, Burdur Bucak Municipality, Artvin Yusufeli Municipality and Antalya Metropolitan Municipality, and with smart junction, Düzce Municipality and Mersin Metropolitan Municipality were included in the next generation city journey.

Türk Telekom developed the next generation bicycle solution with domestic and national resources and incorporated it into the ecosystem as a new member of the next generation city family in 2021. Smart bicycle, a major component of next generation city in the journey of mitigating the growing risks of climate change, reducing the rate of carbon gas emissions and digitising cities, provides alternative solutions for urban mobility as well. The new member of the ecosystem, the smart bicycle, was first implemented in Aksaray Municipality and was highly appreciated by the end users. Bicycle transportation contributes directly or indirectly to 17 goals, including Healthy and Quality Life, Sustainable Cities and Communities, and Climate Action, which are among the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.

Türk Telekom added new components to the solutions as well as projects in 2021. The Company supported digital municipality vision with social media management software, one of the newly added elements of next generation life. Established in 46 municipalities so far, this system has enabled citizens to reach city administrations through all channels, convey their demands, complaints and requests, and allowed municipalities to respond quickly to their citizens. By establishing an interactive relation between the two sides, the satisfaction of the citizens was improved with quality interaction.

As the pandemic continued in 2021, Türk Telekom added HES code inquiry devices, a digital health risk status detection solution, to its next generation city solutions. Smart poles which contain various components from WiFi service to city information screens and operate on environmentally friendly energy solutions, started to offer alternative services to citizens in Antalya province.

Focusing on citizen satisfaction, which is the priority of all municipalities, Türk Telekom aims to implement new projects considering the public interest. The Company is committed to making cities safe and sustainable and offer high quality of life.

Türk Telekom continues its efforts to maximise energy efficiency at its base stations

The activities conducted for energy efficiency at base stations and the solutions developed are given below:

Türk Telekom replaced the high energy consuming base station equipment in use with lower energy consuming models in line with its goal of increasing energy savings. The Company switched to more efficient equipment with lower energy consumption at more than 3 thousand base stations in İzmir and Bursa regions. With this project completed in 2021, Türk Telekom achieved 27 million kWh energy savings annually, and prevented 12,750 tons of carbon emissions.
Türk Telekom implements efficient and eco-friendly solutions in the energy and cooling infrastructure in its base stations. With 700 free cooling devices commissioned in 2021, the Company achieved savings in cooling energy as well as spare parts and maintenance costs.
Türk Telekom uses eco-friendly air conditioning gas to reduce greenhouse gas emissions at its base stations. The Company switched to 336 next generation efficient air conditioners in 2021.
Türk Telekom replaced the direct current energy sources, which lead to high energy loss, with high efficiency models.
Türk Telekom ensures the safe operation of base stations for people and the environment by making electromagnetic field measurements before and after the installation.
Türk Telekom takes utmost care to minimise human and environmental interference at its base stations during the planning, design, installation and operation stages and takes all necessary precautions.
For human health and environmental safety, which is considered a top priority, Türk Telekom uses and updates all necessary security equipment so that its base stations are not affected by natural disasters, and the environment and public health are not endangered. In 2019, the Company examined 750 base station towers in detail and updated them in line with the needs and made plans for the tower controls of the base stations to be conducted in 2022.
Türk Telekom monitors the base stations for 24 hours and provides the highest level of operational efficiency by responding to the field in the event of emergencies and natural disasters as quickly as possible.

Türk Telekom attaches importance to investments in energy efficiency and renewable energy

Aware of the impact of high energy consumption on society and the environment, Türk Telekom appreciates investments and activities in the fields of energy efficiency and renewable energy. The activities conducted in this context and the achievements are summarised below:

The total power of Türk Telekom’s eco-friendly green power switches increased to 2.5MW

Systematically reducing its carbon emissions and continuing its investments and optimisation activities in energy efficiency unceasingly, Türk Telekom commissioned another 200kW solar energy system last year. With these investments, the total installed power of renewable energy systems increased to 2.5MW, a level that can meet the energy needs of more than 3 thousand residences. This also means that approximately 2,150 tons of carbon emissions were prevented annually.

Cooling Systems Conversion Projects

Türk Telekom continues its projects to replace the air conditioners used in fixed and mobile networks with next generation efficient devices, and to commission the free cooling box devices with the aim of ensuring direct cooling of mobile base stations and telecom system halls with outside air at lower costs. These conversions in cooling systems, saved 9 million kWh of energy per year and prevented 4,250 tons of carbon emissions.

Smart Energy Management System Project

Türk Telekom has launched the user friendly smart energy management system project, which provides faster access to all energy equipment (generator, DC system, UPS, air conditioner, digital thermostat, meter, etc.) in its fixed and mobile networks, receiving the data created with the information obtained from the devices securely and presenting and reporting this data effectively to the end user by achieving operational quality and high efficiency as a result of artificial intelligence supported analysis.

In the first phase of the project, the integration of meter, generator and DC energy systems was completed. With studies such as field based electricity consumption analysis, instant detection of faults affecting consumption, control of air conditioner temperature set values, control of operating redundancy of devices, change in electricity consumption of telecommunication devices, the potential for energy efficiency will be determined and necessary optimisations will be carried out promptly. Analyses to be made with the alarm, fault and maintenance data of the equipment will provide improvement in device replacement processes, faults and spare parts usage.

By transferring services provided through old generation systems that have completed their technological lifespan to new generation systems, Türk Telekom achieves ease of maintenance and operation, energy savings and increases its service quality.

With building/system hall optimisation projects in Türk Telekom offices, space saving was made, and accordingly, a reduction in energy consumption in cooling was achieved.

In addition, the use of energy saving light bulbs, thermal insulation and sheathing, building automation, environmentally friendly vehicle fleet, paper recycling, electronic document and documentation system (EDİTT), central printing systems, e-learning, telepresence and video conferencing, contributed to recycling, savings and carbon emissions reduction.