By Juan Pedro Tomás
German carrier Deutsche Telekom reported that over 5,000 antennas are now compatible with Standalone (SA) 5G in the 3.6 GHz band.
In a statement, Deutsche Telekom noted it added 350 new sites to its 5G SA network in recent weeks, raising the total number of sites to 1,700. The telco also highlighted that the technology is now available in more than 200 urban areas and cities across Germany.
New localities where this technology is available include Dülmen (North Rhine-Westphalia), Soltau (Lower Saxony), Annaberg-Buchholz (Saxony) and Freising (Bavaria). The European telco said that its technical teams are also expanding and improving the 5G network in larger cities such as Cologne, Düsseldorf and Berlin.
Some of the cities where the telco offers 5G via 3.6 GHz spectrum are Aachen, Augsburg, Berlin, Bonn, Braunschweig, Bremen, Darmstadt, Dortmund, Duisburg, Düsseldorf, Essen, Frankfurt/Main, Hamburg, Hanover, Jena, Kiel, Cologne, Leipzig, Ludwigsburg, Munich, Nuremberg, Saarbrücken, Schwerin, Stuttgart, Wiesbaden and Wolfsburg.
More than 90 per cent of households in Germany can already access Telekom’s 5G network, while LTE household coverage is now 99 per cent, the carrier said.
Deutsche Telekom said that over 63,000 antennas are already transmitting 5G across the country. Deutsche Telekom currently uses two frequencies for 5G. The 3.6 GHz frequency enables the fastest download speeds. This high-speed 5G is mainly used in densely populated regions. In addition, Telekom uses the longer-wave 2.1 GHz frequency.
During the course of this year, Deutsche Telekom also wants to use its 700 MHz frequencies for the provision of 5G services.
The telco kicked off the rollout of its 5G network in a limited number of cities across Germany at the beginning of July 2019.
Managing director of technology at Telekom Deutschland, Walter Goldenits recently said that the telco was expecting to launch its 5G Standalone (SA) network in the country, depending on the use cases for the technology as well as the availability of devices.
Rival operator Vodafone Germany’s 5G Standalone (5G SA) network is currently available to nearly 10 million people across the country. The German carrier said that 4,000 antennas already support 5G SA technology.
Vodafone also said that 5G SA will be activated across the company’s 5G footprint, reaching nationwide coverage by 2025.
The company’s 5G network already reaches 45 million people across the country. The telco also said that its 5G network is expected to be available to 60 million people by 2023.
Over 53 per cent of the German territory is covered by at least one provider supplying 5G as of the end of October 2021, according to the latest available data from the Federal Network Agency (Bundesnetzagentur).
