Telefónica Deutschland brings 5G to 60 German cities
Telefonica Germany said it has installed almost 2,000 5G antennas operating in the 3.6 GHz frequency bands in around 80 cities.
The company has equipped the city of Berlin with around 375 antennas, Munich with 175 antennas transmitting, Hamburg with over 150, Cologne and Stuttgart with over 120 5G antennae each.
Markus Haas, CEO of Telefónica Deutschland/O2. Said that “By the end of the year, we will cover more than 30 percent of the population with 5G and the whole of Germany by 2025.”
He added: “This will bring the full 5G power to every corner of the republic, enabling new connectivity solutions for businesses and democratizing high-tech for consumers.”
In addition, O2 has launched its 5G network in numerous additional cities in recent weeks, including Augsburg and Ingolstadt (Bavaria), Aachen, Gelsenkirchen and Schwerte (North Rhine-Westphalia), and Sindelfingen, Affalterbach and Marbach am Neckar (Baden-Württemberg).
The first 5G sites are also live in Wiesbaden (Hesse) and Mainz (Rhineland-Palatinate).
“We are proud to have implemented our new 5G standalone core network. Our O2 network of the future is taking clear shape. Whether it’s gigabit data rates, real-time communications and separate networks for our business customers – with 5G standalone we are significantly expanding the digital playing field,” said Mallik Rao, chief technology and information officer of Telefónica Deutschland/O2.
The telco also claims to be the first German network operator to bring the vendor-independent Open RAN technology out of the lab and into the O2 live network.
Open RAN sites have already been transmitting since December 2020 in Landsberg am Lech – Germany’s first Open RAN City. From the fall of 2021, O2 will convert further locations to Open RAN.
By this summer, the carrier says its focus will be on implementing the new 5G core network nationwide in all of its own data centers.