O2 Telefonica said its 5G network currently reaches 95% of Germany’s population
German telecom operator O2 Telefonica, controlled by Spanish telco Telefónica, said it has already deployed nearly 10,000 5G base stations since it initially launched 5G services in October 2020.
In a release, the operator said it deployed an average of more than 50 new 5G transmitters every week since the launch of the network. Last year alone, the carrier installed 3,000 5G base stations across the country.
The telco said its 5G network currently reaches 95% of Germany’s population.
“We need high-performance networks to make the economy and society fit for the digital future. 2024 will be the year of 5G. More and more mobile data will flow over our 5G network. The ultra-fast network will be suitable for the mass market,” said Mallik Rao, chief technology and information officer at O2 Telefónica.
“We have achieved a lot with the 5G rollout. Now it’s about the last few per cent. We want to cover almost the entire population in Germany with high-performance 5G by the end of 2025. To achieve this, comprehensive frequency equipment and further investment in expansion are essential. Germany needs an extension of all expiring frequency usage rights so that everyone can benefit from the advantages of digitalization. Another auction worth billions would set the country’s digitalization far back and make existing networks visibly worse,” Rao said.
In October 2023, O2 Telefonica announced the launch of its 5G Standalone (SA) network in the country under the 5G Plus brand. Until this launch, the German telco had been offering 5G services through the NonStandalone (NSA) 5G architecture partly via its LTE/4G core network.
The carrier noted that the new network will enable customers to have access to voice-over-new-radio (VoNR) technology, which enables them to make calls with even better voice quality over the 5G network.
O2 Telefónica said it has already been using the 5G SA technology in 5G campus networks for companies and public authorities since 2020. With this new launch, the company noted that more companies in different sectors such as industry, healthcare and the public sector will have access to improved connectivity.
The carrier’s 5G Plus uses frequencies in the 700 MHz, 1.8 GHz and 3.6 GHz bands.
The telco said it expects its 5G SA service to reach full coverage in Germany by the end of 2025.
Last year, O2 Telefónica and Ericsson had completed a proof of concept (PoC) with the aim of paving the way for the development of 5G cloud RAN technology in Europe.
Ericsson and O2 Telefonica noted that this collaboration “validates the feasibility” of cloud RAN for enterprise and industry-specific use cases as well as fixed wireless access (FWA) use cases.
