Energy savings for cellular access network through Wi-Fi offloading

This paper investigates the energy savings a cellular operator can achieve in the access network by dynamically offloading users or traffic loads to Wi-Fi networks. The method used to analyze energy savings is presented, followed by detailed simulations using different traffic types. Results show that significant savings of up to 65-70% can be achieved by opportunistically powering down cellular radio network equipment as facilitated by the offloading of users to Wi-Fi.