ZTE Corporation and MTN South Africa have successfully advanced the commercial validation of ZTE AIR RAN EnergyTurbo, an AI-native energy optimisation solution designed to improve mobile network energy efficiency while maintaining a consistent customer experience.
The commercial trial, conducted across selected MTN South Africa sites in Cape Town, demonstrated significant energy savings under live network conditions. While conventional energy-saving features achieved average savings of 2.8% per site, EnergyTurbo with AI delivered energy savings of 13.5%, representing an additional improvement of 10.7 percentage points.
The solution delivered significant energy-efficiency improvements and contributed to lower operating energy consumption across the trial sites. Following the successful validation, the deployment was expanded across the Western Cape during the second quarter of 2026, marking an important milestone in MTN South Africa’s adoption of AI-driven network operations.
EnergyTurbo uses artificial intelligence to analyse network traffic patterns, energy policies and real-time service demand, enabling base stations to optimise energy consumption during periods of low network activity while maintaining service quality when demand increases. The rollout demonstrates how AI-native technologies can translate into measurable improvements in operational efficiency, sustainability and network performance.
ZTE and MTN South Africa said they will continue collaborating on AI-powered network innovations that improve operational efficiency, enhance customer experience and reduce environmental impact as AI becomes increasingly embedded within next-generation telecommunications networks.
