Executive Summary

The benefits of circular economy and its necessity are undeniable. More than ever, the planet and its people need to reduce resource use and move to more sustainable business models.

This also applies to the telecommunications industry and its network equipment. With rapid technological changes and accompanying customer behaviors, lifecycles are shortened, resulting in greater production and increasing waste.

While the industry is already practising circular economy with mostly separate initiatives, this strategy paper outlines opportunities to create a global and unified vision for the whole ecosystem. This will encompass operators, suppliers, policymakers and civil society organisations.

Four challenges have been identified to achieve greater circularity and realise Triple Bottom Line benefits to people, planet and prosperity.