Mobile network operators, such as EE, O2, Vodafone and Three UK (VodafoneThree), have reportedly warned the government that, in a worst-case scenario, the current energy crisis and rising costs may force some of them to ration access to their network or slow mobile broadband (4G, 5G) speeds in order to reduce energy usage.
The option is said to be part of emergency plans that have been pieced together by the operators after the Government excluded them from the new British Industrial Competitiveness Scheme (BICS), which pledged to help cut energy bills by up to 25% for over 10,000 businesses (manufacturers) from April 2027.
However, mobile operators argue that their networks are a highly energy intensive critical service, consuming just under 1 Terawatt-hour of electricity annually (roughly enough to power 370,000 homes). This is a problem because the cost of their electricity usage has risen by 70% in recent years and the conflict in the Middle East is expected to make things much worse.
According to the Telegraph (paywall), another option could be to adopt “surge pricing“, which would charge customers an additional fee at peak times (we assume this would be applied to mobile data / broadband usage). But it’s important to stress that these are “worst case” style contingency plans and we’re not yet at such a level.
The operators have also threatened the possibility of scaling-back plans to expand their 5G networks (this could be tricky for VodafoneThree, given the binding commitments they’ve made), while at the same time cutting jobs and moving more roles offshore (outsourcing abroad). Such a development would put pressure on the Government’s ambition “for all populated areas” to have access to Standalone 5G based mobile broadband technology by 2030 (here).
A Virgin Media O2 spokesperson said:
“Mobile and broadband networks are critical national infrastructure that almost every consumer and business relies on, yet despite their importance, telecoms companies have been excluded from support offered to other energy-intensive sectors.
If the Government wants growth, productivity and resilience, it cannot overlook the digital networks the country depends on.”
A spokesman for VodafoneThree said:
“We are disappointed that the Government has chosen not to include the telecoms sector in the British Industrial Competitiveness Scheme.
We urge the Government to consider the impact of rising energy prices on the vital telecoms sector that unlocks growth in all parts of the economy.”
Consumers are unlikely to greet any such measures positively. Any industry-wide move to adopt a similar approach is likely to be viewed quite cynically, particularly after so many of the biggest providers have been busy hitting customers with inflation busting price hikes for the past few years.
Not to mention the energy savings they’ve recently made by switching-off 3G networks (2G will follow) and through the adoption of new technologies alongside 5G / 5G Standalone (5G+) networks, such as AI based traffic and energy optimisations or deep sleep modes etc.
The focus of this article is currently on mobile operators, although it’s conceivable that some of the same issues could also impact fixed broadband services too. But at present this all seems to be more about putting pressure on the government to expand their energy support scheme, yet that could change if the current crisis isn’t resolved soon and even then, energy prices will take time to recover.
UPDATE 5:17pm
VMO2 has informed ISPreview that rationing or throttling aren’t things they are looking at.