When it comes to green companies in Canada’s telecommunications industry, most people typically think of Fido. Fido’s latest round of advertisements on television, where the dog races into the garbage can after somebody chucks in a water bottle, help promote the idea of Fido’s pursuit of environmentally-friendly products.
Looking at Fido’s product line reveals a slew of impressive “green” phones, too. Take, for instance, the Motorola Renew and the upcoming Motorola Renew Plus units. Then there’s the Sony Ericsson Naite, introduced by Fido in mid-February, and its basic green credentials.
Fido and Rogers also sponsor the Phones for Food program, a program that promotes the recycling of used phones while raising funds for Canada’s Food Banks. Fido’s website claims that over 400,000 used phones have been saved from landfills since the program’s inception in 2003.
As a company, Fido claims to put the environment first. They have a host of tips for consumers looking to help do their part to help the environment on their website and they regularly contribute to worthy causes like Evergreen’s Common Grounds Program.
But how much can a company like Fido, one that traffics largely in producing new “updated” and “advanced” phones, be expected to make a green impact?
For now, green cell phones are more of a niche market than they are a commonality. This is true of all carriers, as most only offer a handful of green phones while others promote and deliver a slew of phones that are quite a strain on the environment. The goal of any cell phone provider is, of course, to move units and that automatically sets up a business model that almost exclusively traffics in waste.
What about Fido? Of Fido’s product line, a handful of the phones are actually green. The company offers paperless billing, but so do most companies these days. And most of Canada’s providers also do their part with “donations” to environmental causes. Telus, for example, is working on its emissions and has outlined an environmental policy on its website.
Still, one has to applaud Fido’s efforts at going green. They are selling a good selection of green phones and they have partnered with a few worthy causes, but one wonders if a cell phone company of any stripe can actually claim to be a green company or if it’s just a lot of chatter.
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Written by: Jordan Richardson. www.digitcom.ca >. Follow TheTelecomBlog.com > by: RSS >, Twitter >, Identi.ca >, or Friendfeed >
