China Mobile has been prominent in warning of the risks of high 5G power consumption, and now the operator’s EVP, Li Zhengmao, has called on the government to subsidize electricity costs for telcos in order to accelerate 5G expansion. Speaking at a GSMA seminar in Beijing last week, Li said operators had made little progress in reducing 5G power consumption and cost. In the early days of the standards process, there were ambitious claims that the 5G radio would be far more power-efficient than its predecessors, but these gains have been more than cancelled out by the larger number of cells and antennas that are required for 5G. Higher frequency spectrum, from 3.4 GHz up to millimeter wave, are being…