China Tower is a world-leading tower provider that builds, maintains, and operates site support infrastructure such as telecommunication towers, high-speed rail, subway systems,. In Hangzhou, the 5G Power solution deployed by China Tower and Huawei supports one cabinet for one site and boasts smart features like intelligent peak shaving, intelligent voltage boosting, and intelligent energy storage. China Tower and Huawei conducted joint pilot verification in 2018 and found that the 5G Power solution could support effective 5G site deployment without changing the grid, power distribution or cabinets. This in turn could cut retrofitting costs for a single site by more than.
[PDF Version]
How much does a 5G base station cost?
Click Here To Download It For Free! Setting up a 5G base station is expensive, with costs ranging from $100,000 to $200,000 per site. This price includes hardware, installation, site rental, and maintenance. Urban areas often have higher costs due to land prices and infrastructure challenges.
How much power does a 5G station use?
The power consumption of a single 5G station is 2.5 to 3.5 times higher than that of a single 4G station. The main factor behind this increase in 5G power consumption is the high power usage of the active antenna unit (AAU). Under a full workload, a single station uses nearly 3700W.
The current 200,000 base stations can save 1.2 billion annually. By the end of this year, 1 million 5G base stations will be built, saving 6 billion in a year. If there are more than 2 million base stations, 12 billion electricity can be saved a year, which is equivalent to China Unicom's total profit in one year.
However, Li says 5G base stations are carrying five times the traffic as when equipped with only 4G, pushing up power consumption. The carrier is seeking subsidies from the Chinese government to help with the increased energy usage.
Can 5G power slash site retrofitting costs?
In 2019, the 5G Power solution won ITU's Global Industry Award for Sustainable Impact. For operators, it provides a replicable power solution that can slash site retrofitting costs. 5G Power is based on intelligent technologies like peak shaving, voltage boosting, and energy storage.
Does China Mobile have a 5G base station?
China Mobile has tried using lower cost deployments of MIMO antennas, specifically 32T32R and sometimes 8T8R rather than 64T64R, according to MTN. However, Li says 5G base stations are carrying five times the traffic as when equipped with only 4G, pushing up power consumption.