en.Wedoany.com Reported - On June 4, Costa Rican telecom operator Liberty Costa Rica and Sweden's Ericsson announced the advancement of 5G network deployment, adopting next-generation radio access network equipment to enhance network performance and coverage while reducing energy consumption and carbon emissions. The project covers a combination of 3.5GHz and 700MHz band equipment, providing higher capacity, broader coverage, and more energy-efficient mobile communication infrastructure for urban hotspots, rural areas, and remote regions.
The most critical technical node of the project is Liberty's adoption of Ericsson's AIR 3255 Massive MIMO radio equipment, the 700MHz band Radio 4432 B28, and the AI-capable RAN Processor 6655 baseband platform in its 5G construction.
The value of this 5G deployment lies not only in expanding 5G coverage in Costa Rica but also in integrating network performance, energy consumption control, and carbon emission constraints into a single construction plan. Many Latin American countries face similar challenges in mobile communication upgrades: on one hand, rapidly growing demand for video, mobile office, cloud services, financial payments, government applications, and enterprise connectivity requires operators to increase network capacity and coverage; on the other hand, electricity costs, site maintenance, rural coverage, and sustainable development goals impose practical constraints on network construction. If operators pursue only capacity expansion, the number of base stations, equipment power consumption, and site complexity will increase simultaneously, raising long-term operational costs. The AIR 3255 adopted by Liberty and Ericsson provides high-capacity 5G coverage in the 3.5GHz band, reducing energy consumption by approximately 30% and embedded carbon emissions by about 20% compared to previous-generation equipment; the 700MHz band equipment is more suitable for expanding coverage radius, serving rural and hard-to-reach areas. The combination of these two types of equipment allows the network to balance hotspot capacity and wide-area coverage, avoiding localized 5G experiences only in urban centers. The RAN Processor 6655 further handles baseband processing and network function integration, reducing site-level hardware requirements through higher capacity, enhanced energy efficiency, and AI capabilities, supporting operators in reducing energy consumption, space, and operational pressure. For Costa Rica, such deployment helps extend 5G from a few core urban areas to a wider range of production and living scenarios, supporting digital applications in tourism, finance, logistics, education, public services, and small and medium-sized enterprises.
Energy efficiency is not a secondary indicator but a key condition for the sustainability of subsequent 5G network expansion.
The energy-saving mechanisms introduced by Ericsson in this project include Massive MIMO, beamforming, and dynamic shutdown functions. Massive MIMO can more precisely direct radio resources to active users, beamforming reduces ineffective signal diffusion, and dynamic shutdown automatically adjusts energy consumption based on real-time traffic changes, minimizing energy waste at sites during low load periods. For mobile operators, the operational costs of 5G networks come not only from equipment procurement but also from long-term electricity bills, site leasing, cooling, maintenance, and hardware upgrade cycles. Low-energy equipment can directly reduce operational expenses and help operators achieve their climate goals. Liberty's climate strategy includes reducing Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions by 30% by 2027 compared to 2021, and reducing Scope 3 emission intensity by 39.8%. If 5G networks continue along a high-energy consumption expansion path, operators will struggle to balance customer experience, investment returns, and emission reduction commitments; deploying lighter, more integrated, and software-upgradable equipment can expand connectivity while reducing resource consumption. The inclusion of embedded carbon emissions in the project narrative also indicates that the telecom industry's emission reduction focus is extending from "equipment operational electricity use" to manufacturing, transportation, installation, maintenance, and full lifecycle management. In the future, when operators evaluate network suppliers, equipment performance, energy efficiency, carbon footprint, software upgrade capabilities, and hardware lifespan will all influence procurement decisions.
Costa Rica's 5G construction also holds significant regional demonstration value. The Latin American market exhibits differences in spectrum resources, investment capacity, population distribution, and geographical environments in 5G advancement, with some areas having concentrated urban demand and others facing high coverage costs. The combination of the 3.5GHz capacity layer and the 700MHz coverage layer adopted by Liberty and Ericsson helps provide a more balanced deployment path for similar markets: high-frequency bands address capacity issues in urban and commercial areas, low-frequency bands address coverage issues in rural, mountainous, and transportation corridor areas, and AI-powered baseband and dynamic energy-saving capabilities reduce long-term site costs. As Latin American countries continue to advance digital economy, smart tourism, remote education, mobile finance, public safety, and industrial connectivity, 5G networks will become the foundation for more industry applications. If Costa Rica's project maintains performance and energy efficiency advantages in actual operations, it may encourage more operators in Central America and the Caribbean to adopt similar energy-saving network solutions in 5G deployment.
The collaboration between Liberty and Ericsson provides a clearer technological and sustainable path for Costa Rica's 5G network construction. Going forward, the project's outcomes will be reflected in coverage expansion speed, user experience improvement, rural connectivity capabilities, site energy consumption reduction, and enterprise application carrying capacity. For the communication equipment industry chain, energy-saving radio equipment, AI baseband platforms, low-frequency wide-coverage solutions, and automated network management capabilities will continue to be key focus areas in operators' 5G expansion and network modernization procurement.
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