# Do mobile phone and internet bills count in our carbon footprint?

Canonical: https://senseible.earth/answers/mobile-and-internet-bills-scope-3

Yes, as a purchased service in Scope 3 Category 1. Telecom invoices rarely show energy, so most companies use a spend-based estimate. Data centre and cloud services are separate lines. The phones and routers you buy are Category 2 if capitalised, or Category 1 if expensed.

## What the bill covers

- Mobile plans and leased lines: a service, Category 1, usually by spend.
- Some operators publish emissions per subscriber or per terabyte; use that if your operator does and state it.
- Cloud hosting and SaaS: separate Category 1 lines with their own methods.

## Devices

- Phones, laptops and routers capitalised as assets: Category 2.
- Low-value devices expensed: Category 1.
- Leased devices: see the leased assets rules.

## Keep it simple

Telecom is a small line for most companies. A spend-based estimate with the factor source and price year is enough; revisit only if your telecom spend is large.

## What Senseible does here

Senseible reads purchase and service invoices; it uses quantities where the invoice shows them and otherwise gives a spend-based estimate, labelled as spend-based with wider uncertainty.

- [SaaS subscriptions in Scope 3](https://senseible.earth/answers/saas-subscriptions-scope-3-emissions)
- [Leased laptops and servers](https://senseible.earth/answers/leased-laptops-and-servers-scope-3)
- [Spend-based Scope 3: GST, inflation, currency](https://senseible.earth/answers/spend-based-scope-3-gst-inflation-currency)

Sources: [GHG Protocol Scope 3 Standard, Category 1 purchased goods and services](https://ghgprotocol.org/corporate-value-chain-scope-3-standard)

Last reviewed 2026-10-20.