As the world’s largest mobile communications operator, China Mobile’s total power consumption of 2G/3G/4G base stations in 2018 exceeded 14 billion kWh. Because of 5G involves Massive MIMO, high bandwidth, and high transmission power, the power consumption of 5G is expected to be 3 to 4 times that of 4G, the construction and operation of 5G commercial networks will face more severe problems of high energy consumption. In response to the above-mentioned challenges, China Mobile has comprehensively carried out energy-saving technology research in the three technical fields of board level, site level, and network level, and proposed a "new architecture, new materials, new indicators" technical plan. The power consumption of 5G in 2020 will decrease by about 30% compared with that in 2018. Inherit 4G energy-saving key technologies, and further propose core technologies such as load-based 5G sleep, which can reduce power consumption by more than 70% under low traffic; independently develop i-Green intelligent wireless energy-saving platform, through the combination of AI and wireless big data, the duration of energy saving is increased by 5% to 10%. Actively participate in 3GPP, GTI, NGMN and other international standardization organizations and platforms to promote the common green development of the global industry.

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Key energy-saving technical solutions and indicator requirements proposed by the project team have been incorporated into China Mobile’s corporate standards, and also been large-scale commercial deployment, the above solutions can be directly promoted to other operators; i-Green technology concept had been released, and the i-Green intelligent wireless energy-saving platform had been developed based on the above-mentioned concept. Based on key technologies such as wireless network big data and AI, it can train the best energy-saving function application in the 4G/5G multi-network coexistence scenario. And the coverage cell and capacity cell benchmark identification to realize the best application of energy saving function. The above-mentioned key technologies and platforms are highly scalable and effectively reduce the energy consumption of wireless networks.

In 2020, China has deployed more than 600,000 5G base stations, with the further acceleration of 5G commercial network construction, in the next few years, the scale of 5G networks will be basically equivalent to 4G, and the application of energy-saving technologies for 5G wireless networks will become more important. The key energy-saving technologies for 5G wireless networks proposed by the project team can be continuously used in 5G commercial networks to achieve a reduction in wireless network energy consumption without affecting the business experience. For vertical industry expansion scenarios such as 2B, it can be combined with service requirements, to further explore the application scenarios of the above-mentioned energy-saving technologies.

5G networks typically uses Massive MIMO, high bandwidth, and high transmission power. The power consumption of 5G is expected to be 3-4 times that of 4G base stations. The construction and operation of 5G commercial networks will face more severe problems of high energy consumption. China Mobile has always attached great importance to the power consumption of 5G and has carried out comprehensive research on energy saving technology in three technical fields: board level, station level and network level. Through years of continuous efforts, the energy consumption level of 5G wireless network has been effectively reduced, providing a solid foundation for the rapid construction and commercial operation of 5G network. It not only realizes its own sustainable development, but also makes an important contribution to the overall energy conservation and emission reduction of the society. The effort promotes 5G to become the aorta of social information flow, the accelerator of industrial transformation and upgrading, and the new cornerstone of the construction of digital society, promote social, economic upgrading and development, realize the vision of 5G to change society.