Special Feature

Environmental Load Reduction Effects ofUbiquitous Broadband Services
Takashi Sawada†, Takeshi Origuchi, and Shiro Nishi
Abstract
The environmental load reduction effects of B-FLET’S and FOMA—the core ubiquitous broadband
services of the NTT Group—were quantitatively evaluated by an environmental impact assessment
method that takes the whole life cycle into account. The CO2 emissions of B-FLET’S and FOMA per
subscriber under average use conditions were 93 and 120 kg, respectively, lower than those of equivalent conventional activities. The total reduction in CO2 emissions of all users of B-FLET’S and FOMAin fiscal year 2005 was calculated to be 3.14 million tons. Since the number of B-FLET’S and FOMAlines that are sold can be converted into a figure indicating CO2 emission reduction, the environmentalload reduction effects of business activities can be directly calculated. Applying the results of this assessment to business activities and ISO14001 environmental management activities should raise the level ofenvironmental management at NTT.

1. Expected effect
NTT Group’s Medium-term Management Strategy[1] declares a target of 30 million users of ubiquitous
broadband services by 2010. The provision of information and communications technologies (ICT) services such as ubiquitous broadband services is said toreduce the environmental load by making the movement of people and things more efficient and by eliminating the need for physical media such as paper andcompact discs (CDs). However, ICT services themselves consume energy, which means that they
increase the environmental load. The NTT Group has
evaluated the impact of ICT services in Japan andcalculated that the amount of energy consumed
through the use of ICT services in 2010 will be about
1.1% of the total energy consumption in Japan, butthat a 3.9% reduction in total energy consumption
will be achieved [2].
2. NTT Group activities
In “Communication between people and the global† NTT Information Sharing Laboratory Group
Musashino-shi, 180-8585 Japan
Contact: kansuip@lab.ntt.co.jp

Vol. 5 No. 3 Mar. 2007

environment,” the second of four CSR (corporatesocial responsibility) themes included in the NTT
Group CSR Charter established in June 2006, theNTT Group declared that it would reduce its own
environmental load while working to reduce the environmental load of society as a whole through the provision of ICT services. Specific guidelines for thiseffort were provided by the NTT Group’s Vision forEnvironmental Contribution established in July 2006[3]. It states, in particular, that the 2010 target for thedifference between the amount of CO2 saved by using
ICT services and the amount emitted in their provision is 10 million tons, and it promotes activities forachieving this target.
This article describes an evaluation of the environmental load reduction effects of B-FLET’S andFOMA—the main ubiquitous broadband services
provided by the NTT Group—and clarifies environmental contributions to society. B-FLET’S service isan Internet connection service using optical fiber
cables provided by NTT East and NTT West. FOMAis a mobile communication service based on WCDMA (wideband code division multiple access)provided by NTT DoCoMo. Though B-FLET’S
comes in various forms depending on customer
needs, this article deals with the B-FLET’S familyplan type of service.
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3. Evaluation method
We evaluated the amount of CO2 emitted in theprocesses composing the whole life cycle of a product or service, from the acquisition of raw materials
to its manufacture, use, and disposal. In addition, wesurveyed the usage of services that use B-FLET’Sand FOMA by means of a user questionnaire, determined average usage in Japan using publicly available statistical data, and assessed the amount of CO2
emissions based on actual user conditions. We thenestablished the correspondence between ICT services
and actions and corresponding conventional services
and actions for achieving the same objective without
using B-FLET’S or FOMA. We evaluated the environmental load reduction effect from the difference inCO2 emissions relative to using conventional services.

3.1 ICT versus conventional services/actions
By investigating the use of B-FLET’S and FOMA
using statistical data, we determined that 19 types ofICT services and actions (Table 1) are used in Japan.
The table also shows the services and actions that weassumed are conventionally used to achieve the same
objectives without using B-FLET’S and FOMA.
3.2 Survey of Internet usage
Using a Web-based questionnaire, we surveyed theusage of the services listed in Table 1 for both BFLET’S and FOMA users. This survey is outlined inTable 2.
3.3 Average Internet usage time
Upon totaling the usage time of ICT services
obtained from the Web-based questionnaire, we
found that the daily Internet usage time for BFLET’S was 6 hours or more per person, which weTable 1. ICT services/actions using B-FLET’S and FOMA and conventional ones.
B-FLET’S
ICT services/actions
EmailFOMA
Conventional services/actions
Conventional mailICT services/actions

Conventional services/actions

TelephoneFixed-line service

Videophone

Mail video letter

EmailConventional mailPurchase magazines at store

Receive information bye-magazines and e-newsletters

Subscribe to newspapers

Quizzes, prizes, questionnaire
replies

Mail postcards

Home pages, bulletin boards,chatting, blogging

Purchase magazines at store

Internet auction

Exchange goods in person

Internet shopping

Mail-order

Quizzes, prizes, questionnaire
replies

Mail postcards

Internet games

Game center

Internet auction

Exchange goods in person

e-learning

Correspondence courses

Internet shopping

Mail-order

Download music

Purchase CDs at store

Internet games

Game center

Download movies

Purchase DVDs at store

e-Learning

Correspondence courses

Download e-books

Purchase books at store

e-tickets

Purchase tickets at store

e-tickets

Purchase tickets at store
Purchase software at store

Retrieve maps and location
information

Purchase maps at store

Download software (upgrades)
Internet banking

Visit bank

Download ring tones

Purchase CDs at store

Exchange securities

Photo/video mail

Mail photos

Internet banking

Visit bank

Internet trading

Exchange securities

Look for work, change job,
find part-time work

Job-hunting activities

Access national and local
government information

Copy documents at library

Download software (upgrades)

Purchase software at store

Receive information bye-magazines and e-newsletters

Subscribe to newspapers

Home pages, bulletin boards,chatting, blogging

Internet trading
Look for work, change jobs,
find part-time work

Job-hunting activities

Access national and local
government information

Copy documents at library

Internet phone

Fixed-line service

Internet videophone

Mail video letters
B-FLET’S only

FOMA only

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Special Feature

Table 2. Outline of survey.
TargetAll of Japan (home use)

MethodWeb questionnaire

PeriodMarch 2005

No. of replies

1096

ContentUsage of ICT services (frequency, duration, etc.)
Usage of conventional services/actions(means of movement, distance, etc.)
Terminal usage

took to reflect the presence of heavy users. We therefore corrected the usage time of ICT services basedon average usage times for Japan determined fromstatistical data. The Communications Usage Trend
Survey in 2005 obtained from a mail-based questionnaire conducted by the Ministry of Internal Affairs
and Communications (MIC) states that average
broadband usage time was 27.43 minutes per day (BFLET’S and FLET’S ADSL). Therefore, by subtracting the average FLET’S ADSL usage time, weobtained the average daily usage time per person for
only B-FLET’S as 27.53 minutes. In homes, BFLET’S is often used by the entire household, so we
assumed the use of one line per household in ourassessment while noting that the national census of2005 indicated an average of 2.47 persons per household. The average usage time for FOMA was 36.54
minutes per person according to the Mobile Phone
Usage Survey of 2004 conducted by the Communications and Information Network Association of Japan(CIAJ).
4. Environmental impact assessment
The target of assessment was “Internet use over aB-FLET’S (family type) line or a single FOMAaccess channel during a one-year period”. Based on
the results of the survey described above, we assessed
CO2 emissions for ICT and conventional services andactions. The model used for assessing ICT services
and actions is shown in Fig. 1.
Consider a music-downloading service as an example. The user accesses a download server (data center) via the network using a terminal and downloads
purchased music to the terminal. We consider that theterminal, network, and data center play a role in generating an environmental load due to the use of theICT service, and we assess CO2 emissions for themanufacture, use, and disposal of each of these factors. The corresponding conventional action is taken
Vol. 5 No. 3 Mar. 2007

Data center

Network

B-FLET’SFOMAFig. 1. ICT service assessment model.

to be the purchase of CDs at a retail store. Here, we
consider the environmental load generating processes
to be CD manufacture, distribution, and disposal andthe movement required by the purchaser to visit thestore, and we likewise assess CO2 emissions for eachof these factors. In this way, we assessed each pair ofICT and corresponding conventional services/actions
for both B-FLET’S and FOMA use.
4.1 Effects of B-FLET’S and FOMA
The assessment results are shown in Fig. 2. We
found that CO 2 emissions for average use of BFLET’S at home with one line are 108 kg of CO2 peryear while those for the same activities performed byconventional means without the use of B-FLET’S are
201 kg-CO2/year. This represents an environmentalload reduction effect of 46% (93 kg-CO2/year). The
services that had the greatest environmental load
reduction effect here are home pages, bulletin boards,chatting, and blogging (web logging) as well asemailing and accessing national and local government information.
We also found that CO2 emissions for average
FOMA use at home per access channel are 31 kgCO2/year while those by conventional means without
FOMA are 152 kg-CO2/year, making for an environmental load reduction effect of 79% (120 kgCO2/year). Here, the services that had the greatest
environmental load reduction effect were telephoning, videophoning, emailing, and accessing nationaland local government information.

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Special Feature

201

Conventional
services
46% reduction(93 kg)108
B-FLET’S

050

100

200150250

CO2 emissions (kg-CO2/year)(a) B-FLET’S

Conventional
services

152

79% reduction(120 kg)

31FOMA

0204060

80100120140160

CO2 emissions (kg-CO2/year)(b) FOMAInternet phone
Home pages, bulletin boards, chatting, blogging
EmailReceive information by e-magazines and e-newsletters
Access national and local government information
Internet games
Quizzes, prizes, questionnaire reply
Internet trading
Download software (upgrades)
Internet auction
Internet shopping
Look for work, change job, find part-time work
Internet banking
Download music
Internet videophone
Download movies
Download e-books
e-tickets
e-learning

TelephoneVideophone
EmailHome pages, bulletin boards, chatting, blogging
Receive information by e-magazines and e-newsletters
Access national and local government information
Look for work, change job, find part-time work
Internet games
Download ring tones
Retrieve maps and location information
Quizzes, prizes, questionnaire replies
Internet trading
Photo/video mailInternet banking
Internet auction
Purchase software
Internet shopping
e-tickets
e-learning

Fig. 2. Results of CO2 emissions for B-FLET’S and FOMA services.

4.2 Effects of the entire NTT Group
Table 3 lists the results of calculating the environmental load reduction effects of the entire NTT
Group based on the above assessment results using
the number of both B-FLET’S and FOMA subscriberlines at the end of FY2004 and 2005 [4]. With anenvironmental load reduction effect of 1.54 million
tons of CO2 in FY2004 and 3.14 million tons of CO2in FY2005, we found that reduction in CO2 emissionsof 1.60 million tons was obtained by the increase in
the number of subscribers over FY2005. The above
value of 3.14 million tons of CO2 is about equal to thetotal amount of CO2 emissions associated with thebusiness activities of the NTT Group for FY2004(3.19 million tons of CO2).
4.3 Application targets and effects
The expected effects of applying the environmental
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load reduction effect of B-FLET’S and FOMA tobusiness activities are summarized in Table 4. First,
in the sales department, environmental load reduction
effects can be added to prices and functions insales/promotional materials to promote environmentally friendly services. Next, in the ISO14001 promotion department, the application of environmentalload reduction effects will enable new standards to besupported. Since the number of B-FLET’S lines thatare sold can be converted into a reduction in CO2emissions, business activities and environmental protection activities can be directly coupled. Finally, inthe environment/CSR department, it should become
possible to tabulate effects on a segment-by-segment
basis (such as by company, business division, orbranch office) and to raise the level of environmental
management by expanding activities such as theannouncement of yearly results.
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Special Feature

Table 3. Results of calculating the environmental load reduction effect of the entire NTT Group.
Environmental load reduction effect of one line
(kg-CO2/year)
Number of lines at end of FY2004
Environmental load reduction effect at end of FY2004(tons*3 of CO2/year)
Number of lines at end of FY2005
Environmental load reduction effect at end of FY2005(tons of CO2/year)
*1*2
*3
*4

B-FLET’S

FOMA93120*1

1,664,000*2

11,510,000

160,000*4

1,380,000

3,419,000*2

23,463,000

320,000*4

2,820,000

Line is used here for simplicity to mean both an optical fiber line and a wireless channel
Total number of lines for NTT East and NTT West B-FLET’S series and for FLET’S Hikari Premium
1 ton = 1000 kg.
Calculated assuming that all lines are B-FLET’S (family type)

Table 4. Application targets and effects.
Application target

Activities

Effects

Sales department

Sales activities

Increase sales by promoting the positive environmentalload reduction effect of services

ISO14001 promotion
department

Environmental
management
activities

Achieve environmental-management activities directly
coupled with business activities

Environment/
CSR department

Environmentalmanagement/
PR activities

Raise the level of environmental management andenvironmental presence
PR: public relations

5. Future developments
While the Internet population continues to grow, wecan expect our lifestyles and the structure of industry
to change and new services to appear as ICT progresses. These changes imply more Internet use andan increase in ICT services, which should lead to agreater reduction in environmental load. Presenting
the environmental load reduction effect caused by theprovision of ubiquitous broadband services in a quantitative manner should enhance environmental management in the NTT Group and raise the Group’s
enterprise value.

Vol. 5 No. 3 Mar. 2007

References
[1]
[2]
[3]
[4]

“Promoting NTT Group’s Medium-term Management Strategy,”
NTT Technical Review, Vol. 4, No. 1, pp. 61–66, 2006.
Ministry of the Environment: Annual Report on the Environment inJapan 2006, p. 30 (in Japanese).
NTT CSR Promotion Office, “NTT Group CSR Report 2006,” 2006.
NTT, “21st Term Stock Report (FY2005),” 2005.

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Special Feature

Takashi Sawada

Shiro Nishi

Senior Research Engineer, Supervisor, Environmental Management & Provisioning Project,
NTT Information Sharing Laboratory Group.
He received the B.E. and M.E degrees in electronics science from Nihon University, Tokyo, in
1989 and 1991, respectively. He joined NTTElectrical Communication Laboratories in 1992.
He is currently engaged in promoting environmental management in the NTT Group.

Project Manager, Environmental Management& Provisioning Project, NTT Information Sharing Laboratory Group.
He joined NTT Musashino Electrical Communications Laboratories in 1985. Since then, hehas been engaged in R&D of optical and thermal
polymers, optical adhesives, ionic conductive
polymers, polymer recycling, and life cycle
assessment. His current interest is the environmental assessment of ICT services.

Takeshi Origuchi
Research Engineer, Environmental Management & Provisioning Project, NTT Information
Sharing Laboratory Group.
He received the B.S. degree in physics from
Nihon University, Tokyo, and the M.S. degree inmaterials science from the University of Tokyo,
Tokyo, in 1995 and 1997, respectively. In 1997,
he joined NTT Access Network Service Systems
Laboratories. He is currently engaged in R&D
concerning the life cycle assessment of ICT services, environmental burden reduction effects
and the social effects of using ICT, and environmental accounting. He is a member of the Institute of Life Cycle Assessment, Japan.

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NTT Technical Review