1. A method for real-time adjustment of the energy consumption of a data communications network, said network comprising a number of network elements connected by transport links, said method comprising: determining user activity status of a network element based on status information of one or more user equipments (UEs) accessing the data communications network through the network element, wherein the status information is based on one or more of a number of sessions, a number of connections, and a number of served users; determining an activity status of the network element by aggregating available activity status from one or more activity status reports, each for a downstream network element of the network element, and the determined user activity status of the network element; sending the determined activity status in one or more updated activity status reports to an upstream network element; and adjusting and regulating the performance of associated transport links and internal network element components of the network element in accordance with the determined activity status.