It’s the cell sites that consume the power. And they say the switch from 4G to 5G will require about twice as much power for the 5 G sites. “According to Huawei data on RRU/BBU needs per site, the typical 5G site has power needs of over 11.5 kilowatts, up nearly 70% from a base station deploying a mix of 2G, 3G and 4G radios.”
Thank you. Someone with more knowledge than I. Not difficult but I salute you anyway.
To be fair, 5G supports a far wider range and mix of radios than 4G, so the towers have more radios and antennae.
5G “new radio” is actually more efficient with RF than 4G, both on the tower and in your smart phone.
5G supports higher speeds and greater data throughput so ya have to power more network gear.
Net: 5G is not a power hog, it just can do more and doing more consumes more power.