Berlin, Frankfurt among cities receiving 5G investment
Vodafone Germany said it expects to activate 150 new 5G antennas across Germany before the end of the year. The telco, part of U.K.-based telecom group Vodafone, already operates 60 5G sites and 140 antennas in 40 German cities.
Vodafone said it expects to add approximately 20 new 5G antennas in Berlin before the end of the year. These new antennas will be located in downtown Berlin as well as at Tagel airport.
The carrier also announced plans to deploy additional antennas for the provision of 5G in Dusseldorf and Frankfurt.
Other cities such as Bremen, Leipzig and Dresden will also receive 5G coverage, the telco said.
Vodafone started to activate the first antennas for 5G networks in Germany in August.
The telco initially launched this technology in the cities of Cologne, Dusseldorf, Hamburg, Dortmund, and Munich, among other cities.
At the time of the launch, Vodafone said it expected the 5G service to reach 10 million users by the end of 2020, and 20 million by the end of 2021.
Vodafone Germany acquired radio spectrum for 5G mobile networks at Germany’s Federal Network Agency for a total cost of 1.88 billion euros ($2.08 billion). It has secured 90 megahertz in the 3.6 GHz band and 40 megahertz of 2100 MHz spectrum The auction ended in mid-June and generated around 6.55 billion euros.
Vodafone Germany recently confirmed that it will continue to pursue a dual-vendor strategy for its networks, with gear from Chinese vendor Huawei and Sweden’s Ericsson.
Rival operator Deutsche Telekom is also expanding its 5G network across the country. In September, the telco said that its 5G network is already operational in the cities of Berlin, Bonn, Cologne, Darmstadt, and Munich.
5G services in these five cities is being currently offered via 129 5G antennas. Deutsche Telekom also said that it is gradually expanding its 5G network clusters in these five major cities.
Deutsche Telekom expects to provide 5G coverage in the cities of Hamburg and Leipzig before the end of this year. A total of 300 5G base stations are expected to be deployed before the end of 2019, the telco said.
By the end of 2020, at least 20 of the largest cities in Germany are to be connected to the 5G network, according to Deutsche Telekom.
