Telecom operators have made progress toward balancing massive energy consumption with investments in renewable energy, but carriers' traditional consumer marketing still promotes gross overconsumption that's at odds with their sustainability claims, according to GlobalData analysts.

Operators like Verizon, AT&T, and T-Mobile US commonly market unlimited data plans and frequent mobile device upgrades to their consumers, which represents a massive go-to-market disconnect, according to GlobalData's Emma Mohr-McClune.

"Despite the tremendous energy given to network efficiency and supply chain management, we still see the vast majority of operators go to market with traditional ‘More4More’, ‘binge on,’ and ‘unlimited data’ messages, as well as early device upgrade campaigns that encourage users to consume more digital services and switch to a new device faster without a thought to the CO2e cost of this rising mobile data consumption pattern," she said.

European mobile plans offering unlimited data has jumped from 4% of all mobile plans in 2019, to 15% this year, "evidencing that unlimited data plans have become more commonplace in recent years," the research firm added.

These traditional pricing and monetization strategies that continuously add minutes, data, video streaming, and cloud storage into consumer bundles are hypocritical moves considering many operators' internal sustainability principles, GlobalData warned.

"This doesn’t chime well with the mindfulness of the times, particularly against the backdrop of rising energy costs and inflation. Digital and online engagement, of all types, has a carbon cost. Spiraling digital consumption has a higher cost. This all needs some re-thought on the carrier consumer marketing side," Mohr-McClune said.

She recommends operators offer "carbon footprint aware packages" to align with the telecom and tech industries' broader pushes to prioritize environmental sustainability holistically.

GSMA recently reported that 62% of the telecom industry by revenue has committed to reducing emissions in the next decade. That works out to be 49 operators — an increase of 18 since 2020. Additionally, half of the industry by revenue has made a commitment to reach net-zero emissions by 2050.

Despite loud corporate claims and industry momentum, operators have more room to fully act on their climate claims.

According to recent research from Mobile World Live and Galooli, 63% of respondents from mobile operators, tower companies, and cloud providers say their mobile cell sites rely on a combination of fossil-fuel based electricity, batteries, and solar power. To further break that down, 17% of individuals claim 35% to 74% of their company’s energy use is renewable, and just 15% say 75% to 100% of energy use is renewably sourced.

Additionally, close to half rely primarily on solar as a renewable energy source, 7% lean mainly on hydropower, and just 4% primarily use wind power.