Cellular Access Networks: Energy Benchmarks and Technology Plans

"Mobile operators are showing a clear appetite for deploying a range of advanced technologies in the RAN, which they expect will deliver serious energy savings."

This report presents a range of unique cellular-access energy-consumption benchmarks derived from a confidential survey of 38 mobile operators worldwide undertaken by Analysys Mason at the end of 2025. It also includes data that reveals how operators expect cellular access energy consumption to evolve. The report provides additional insights into operator plans and timetables for the deployment of various energy-efficient and energy-hungry technologies.

The benchmarks and insights cannot be obtained by analysing publicly available data.

Our results show that operators made strong progress in reducing cellular access energy consumption in 2024, and that they are optimistic about achieving significant savings in 2025–2026.

Questions answered in this report

• How much energy is consumed by mobile operators’ cellular-access networks, and is it rising or falling?
• How does this consumption break down across key parts of the network?
• What are the industry benchmarks in terms of energy consumed per site, per dollar of revenue and per customer?
• How does operator energy usage vary with different ownership choices and customer mixes?
• Which energy-efficient or energy-hungry cellular-access technologies are mobile operators planning to deploy, and when?