5G is definitely changing the way cell networks are built although traditional towers are still a part of this. my understanding is that traditional towers will operate on spectrum that reaches out for miles like a traditional tower, while the smaller towers built on lampposts and street corners will be operating on higher bandwidth spectrum that doesn't reach as far, requiring more small towers in densely populated areas. open RANs are the key to making sure all the operators can use existing infra instead of overbuilding each other. sure we'll have a ton of small 5g towers in dense areas, but imagine how many towers would be installed if individual telecoms had to build their own networks.