Vodafone said its 5G Standalone network (SA) currently serves 45% of the German population
Vodafone Germany’s 5G network currently reaches 90% of the country’s population, the telco said in a release.
Meanwhile, the operator’s 5G Standalone network (SA) serves 45% of the German population, the carrier added. Vodafone previously said that 5G SA technology will reach nationwide coverage by 2025.
Vodafone currently operates more than 26,000 mobile radio stations in Germany, including almost 15,000 5G stations.
Vodafone also highlighted that over 1,000 construction projects were completed nationwide in September 2023 alone. A total of 560 construction projects expanded the 5G network or increased 5G capacities and 5G speeds.
Earlier this year, Vodafone Germany said it expected to activate 2,700 new 5G sites with a total of 8,000 antennas in the first half of 2023.
In 2022, Vodafone technicians commissioned 5,450 5G sites with more than 16,000 antennas.
Vodafone Germany had launched its 5G Standalone network last year in partnership with Ericsson, Nokia, Qualcomm and Oppo. For the 5G expansion, Vodafone is currently relying on frequencies in the 3.6 GHz, 1.8 GHz and 700 MHz bands in large urban areas, residential areas and suburbs and rural areas across Germany.
Vodafone initially launched its 5G network in Germany in 2019, using 3.5 GHz frequencies that it acquired from Telefónica in 2018.
The company had previoulsy successfully completed a field test with Open RAN (O-RAN) technology in Plauen, in the Saxony region.
The Germany carrier had previously announced that it will carry out comprehensive pilot projects for open 5G radio access networks at several locations in Germany. The first two stations for the operator’s O-RAN technology are located in rural Bavaria. The pilots are scheduled to start in early 2023 and mark the beginning of a broader deployment of O-RAN technology in Vodafone’s European mobile networks.
The pilot projects will use O-RAN hardware and software, which Vodafone successfully tested in the U.K. earlier this year. Samsung is currently supplying mobile technology and software for these O-RAN trials.
