SDX Central (2022-04-06)
Operators have an energy consumption problem on their hands that’s both exacerbated and diminished by 5G, according to ABI Research.
“Despite 5G consuming less power than 4G per unit of traffic, the overall energy consumption is still much higher, driven by more power-thirsty radios and network densification,” ABI Research analyst Fei Liu wrote in a new report.
The energy-efficiency gains and subsequent increases are astounding. Whereas 5G infrastructure can be 90% more energy efficient than 4G on a per bit basis, a typical 5G base station also requires three times more energy to provide the same coverage as a 4G network, according to Liu.
“5G energy consumption depends on radio configuration, hardware, and traffic load, and over 70% of the consumed energy is in the radio access network (RAN). A 5G RAN consumes up to 2.7 kilowatts of power with 64T64R massive MIMO configurations in a typical condition, whereas an LTE radio consumes about 0.8 kilowatts,” she wrote.
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