1&1 said the initial order stipulates the deployment of 500 antennas across Germany
1&1 Mobilfunk, a subsidiary of German carrier 1&1, and GfTD have signed a contract for the deployment of mobile network infrastructure across Germany. 1&1 said that the first order amounts to 500 new sites.
GfTD is one of the leading German service providers for radio infrastructure and will build new antenna sites for the 1&1 mobile network across Germany as a general contractor. Both companies have already been working together since the beginning of 2020 as part of the German government’s “Weiße-Flecken-Programms” to close coverage gaps in rural areas. In this specific initiative, GfTD has built hundreds of new mobile network sites on behalf of 1&1, which can also be shared by rival operators Deutsche Telekom, Vodafone and Telefónica.
1&1 also has up to 5,000 existing masts at its disposal for the installation of the 1&1 antennas via a cooperation with Vantage Towers.
“With GfTD, we have a proven expert for site acquisition and structural engineering work at our side, which ideally complements our partner network. This puts us in a position to drive forward the expansion of the 1&1 OpenRAN quickly and with a perfect fit,” said Ralph Dommermuth, CEO of 1&1.
“We are pleased to be able to make an important contribution to the further expansion of the necessary mobile radio infrastructure in Germany by constructing the antenna sites on behalf of 1&1,” said Pia Lempik, Managing Director of GfTD.
Last month, 1&1 announced plans to speed up the deployment of the fourth mobile network in Germany, including the deployment of 1,000 5G base stations this year.
In an interview with German newspaper Die Welt, Ralph Dommermuth, CEO of 1&1 parent company United Internet, said that the telco’s mobile network will initially provide 5G fixed wireless access services (FWA). He said that 5G mobile services will be available for smartphone users around mid-2023.
As part of the commitments included in the license that the telco had obtained in 2019 for the provision of mobile services, 1&1 is obliged to deploy at least 1,000 base stations this year. The 1&1 network must reach at least 25% of German households by the end of 2025 and at least 50% by end-2030, as part of those commitments.
Dommermuth reportedly said that the new network will be profitable within a few years.
1&1 currently provides mobile services to nearly 11 million customers, mainly through a wholesale arrangement with rival operator Telefonica Deutschland.
Since the acquisition of its 5G license, the company has been selecting tech partners for the construction of its network. 1&1 had selected Japanese company Rakuten Group to design, build and operate a fully virtualized mobile network based O-RAN technology. The telco has also signed a long-term tower rental agreement with Vodafone Group’s Vantage Towers AG.
In August 2021, 1&1 and Rakuten Group announced a long-term partnership to build the former’s mobile network in Germany. Through this deal, Rakuten became the general contractor for the 1&1 mobile network.
Specifically, Rakuten will take over the build of the active network equipment and will also be responsible for the overall performance of the 1&1 mobile network. The German telco will have access to the Rakuten Communications Platform (RCP) stack of access, core, cloud and operations solutions as well as to its partner network.
