Why does 5G cost more than 4G?

This percentage will increase significantly with 5G because a gNodeB uses at least twice as much electricity as a 4G base station. The more operators spend on electricity, the more difficult it is to price their 5G services competitively and profitably.

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.

Is 5G more energy efficient than 4G?

Although the absolute value of the power consumption of 5G base stations is increasing, their energy efficiency ratio is much lower than that of 4G stations. In other words, with the same power consumption, the network capacity of 5G will be as dozens of times larger than 4G, so the power consumption per bit is sharply reduced.

Are 4G and 5G base stations cheaper?

As a result, no direct savings are expected to be found in transmission when comparing 4G and 5G base stations that are deployed in similar places (on rooftops and masts) and using typical cellular frequencies between 1 and 5 gigahertz.

How will 4G & 5G networks work?

In both 4G and future 5G networks, operators will probably run their base stations so they transmit at the maximum power allowed by their licenses, in order to maximize the coverage, according to Björnson.

Will MIMO increase the energy consumption of 5G base stations?

As a result, there are many more hardware components per base station. Björnson believes this will probably increase the total energy consumption of 5G base stations compared to 4G. But as massive MIMO technology develops, its energy efficiency may also improve over time.