Claro Colombia looks to speed up investments in sustainability

Claro Colombia needs to increase investments in sustainability to meet its goal of reducing carbon emissions by 52% by 2030.

“It would be irresponsible for me to say 'we are going to dedicate so much money' to achieve that goal because there are going to be actions that we take, such as deploying 5G,” the telco's CEO Juan Carlos Archila told a press conference in response to a question from BNamericas.

5G mobile technology is more efficient in terms of energy consumption than its predecessors 2G, 3G and 4G.

Colombia’s 5G spectrum auction is planned for December 20 .

Claro, a unit of Mexico’s América Móvil, invests close to US$800mn a year in Colombia. For 2024, Archila preferred not to give investment details but said the requirements “are very large” due to the radio spectrum renewal and 5G spectrum bidding processes.

Archila also said competition has reduced prices in Colombia by 70%, putting greater pressure on operators when making investments.

“And the investment is necessary to cover that gap for those 40% of Colombians who also deserve to have access to the internet,” he added.

The company will close this year with 10 technology rooms in different cities as part of its connectivity projects. In addition, it is investing in the coverage obligations of the latest 4G spectrum auction and in school connectivity.

ENERGY CONSUMPTION

“The biggest room to reduce [the carbon footprint] is in energy consumption,” Archila said in response to another question from BNamericas.

The company has nearly 9,000 antennas, datacenters and computing centers that consume large amounts of energy, according to Archila.

Claro consumed 646GWh in 2022, according to its latest sustainability report.

The company has more than 440GWh certified as zero emissions, 67% of the energy consumed by Claro, according to the most recent data shared by the company. Last year 47% of commercial energy (264GWh) was zero carbon, according to the 2022 report.

The company said 85% of the commercial and self-generated energy it consumed in 2022 “was clean and renewable in nature.”

To date, 60 Claro radio bases have stopped operating exclusively on fossil fuel and now use hybrid solutions with solar panels, achieving a decrease in fuel of 1.5mn gallons and avoiding the emission of 14,791t of CO2 since 2018, according to a press release.

Additionally, 104 sites have 100% photovoltaic energy, and it is projected that in 2024 there will be 182, avoiding the emission of 9,163t/y of CO2.

So far in 2023, the company said it has managed to avoid 1,362t of CO2, extending the useful life of equipment. The other major objective is to achieve a 14% reduction in emissions generated by the goods and services from suppliers by 2030.