- Full‑fiber rollout is forcing operators and vendors to rethink sustainability at massive scale
- Recycled materials, packaging reduction and energy efficiency are now core network requirements
- Vendor selection is increasingly tied to verified, audited sustainability performance
Sustainability in telecom is often discussed in abstract targets and distant timeframes. But for Openreach, the company building one of the largest full‑fiber networks in Europe, the challenge is far more immediate and tangible.
“We install millions of these devices every year,” said Trevor Linney, network technology director at Openreach, referring to the optical network terminals (ONTs) installed inside customers’ homes. “So it rapidly translates into a very material benefit when you reduce plastics or improve energy efficiency.”
Openreach has already passed 23 million U.K. premises with fiber and is pushing toward 30 million. That scale makes even small design changes consequential. The ONT — which converts optical fiber to Ethernet — became a focal point for sustainability improvements because it sits at the intersection of manufacturing materials, packaging, transport and in‑home energy use, said Linney.
Aiming toward net-zero emissions
Openreach’s broader “Let’s Reach Zero” program targets net‑zero emissions across its own operations by 2031 and across its supply chain by 2041. That pressure has cascaded directly into procurement decisions.
“We really looked at every stage of the process,” Linney said. “From removing single‑use plastics in packaging to electrifying our fleet — we already have about 5,000 EVs on the road, saving roughly 10,000 tonnes of carbon annually.”
For Zyxel, Openreach’s sustainability demands were not an exception — but they did push the vendor further and faster.
“Over the last five to 10 years, service providers have been driving sustainability directly into RFPs,” said Jeff Pitt, regional director for West Europe at Zyxel. “Openreach helped push us to 95% recycled content in these products.”
That figure reflects the ONT’s plastic housing, now made entirely from recycled materials. The remaining 5% consists of strengthening agents needed to meet durability and safety requirements, noted Pitt. Zyxel also redesigned packaging to eliminate single‑use plastics entirely, reduce cardboard volume and improve shipping efficiency.
“If you remove air from packaging and get more units per pallet, that affects transport emissions immediately,” Pitt said. “At this scale, logistics matter as much as materials.”
Sustainability moves into core operations
Zyxel’s broader sustainability efforts are now formally embedded into how it does business. In 2025, the company earned a Platinum EcoVadis rating, placing it in the top 1% of companies evaluated worldwide. Zyxel was also listed in the S&P Global Sustainability Yearbook 2026 as a top‑tier communications equipment vendor, and its carbon‑reduction targets have been validated by the Science Based Targets Initiative.
Those credentials aren’t ornamental. Zyxel has also been recognized by the Joint Alliance for CSR (JAC) with a Best Practice Award for supply‑chain risk governance — a critical factor as operators scrutinize Scope 3 emissions.
For Openreach, that validation matters. “Sustainability isn’t just the product itself,” Linney said. “It’s security, power consumption, supply chain integrity — all of it, together.”