The German carrier aims to launch a new 5G trial near Frankfurt in Q2
Deutsche Telekom announced plans to set up new 5G test areas across Germany this year, the telco said in a statement.
The operator said that it aims to launch a 5G test area in Darmstadt, near Frankfurt, during the first quarter of the year. Other test areas will be launched in the coming months.
Deutsche Telekom has been testing 5G in central Berlin under real conditions since 2018. More than 50 antennas have been integrated in the carrier’s live network and are already transmitting via 5G technology.
Deutsche Telekom’s 5G antennas in Berlin are using frequencies in the 3.7 GHz spectrum band under a testing license provided by German regulators. The operator had also explained that its 5G equipment is interacting with Deutsche Telekom’s 4G spectrum in Germany. The implementation is using commercial 5G equipment from Chinese vendor Huawei.
Deutsche Telekom is also testing 5G technology in an industrial environment in partnership with the port of Hamburg.
Together with the Hamburg Port Authority and Nokia, Deutsche Telekom has been operating a 5G test area around 8,000 hectares in size for over a year now. 5G is being used to transmit movement data and environment data in real time, for the reliable control of traffic lights, and for virtual reality application, the operator said.
Last year, German telecom group Deutsche Telekom announced plans to launch commercial 5G services in 2020. The group’s CEO Tim Hoettges said the commercial launch will take place in 2020, as long as enough commercial devices are available.
Germany’s 5G spectrum auction is scheduled for late March. German communications regulator Bundesnetzagentur recently confirmed it had received applications from four companies to take part in its 5G auction. According to local press reports, Deutsche Telekom, Telefonica Deutschland, Vodafone and newcomer 1&1 Drillisch will take part in the process.
Deutsche Telekom also announced that it plans to install around 2,000 new mobile base stations across Germany to strengthen its LTE network across the country. The carrier said that nearly half of the new planned towers will be located in rural areas.
Deutsche Telekom will be also making increasing use of small cells in its network in 2019. These small cells can be used to upgrade network capacity in line with demand, the company said. Major cities like Hamburg, Berlin, and Munich will see the deployment of small cells by the company during 2019. Public phones often serve as the locations of small cells.
The telco said it aims to deploy these small cells in public phones, lamppost and street furniture.
Deutsche Telekom also announced plans to raise the number of mobile base stations in Germany from current 29,000 to 36,000 in 2021. The LTE expansion will help Deutsche Telekom fill coverage gaps in mobile communications and increase bandwidths.
