Cell towers have batteries and/or generators, with fibre connections to data centres, which also generally have batteries and/or generators.
replyAlways picture someone with a big can of diesel filling up a generator. Experience says it could be a genny running on natural gas. Had that at work before.
replyI think cell phone towers use surprisingly little energy, just a few kW. So even longer term operation should be possible withs bobs backyard generator running on vodka.
replyBut I would guess the whole network equipment would draw quite a bit, especially a modern infrastructure.