- Over 3,000 towns and municipalities now with 5G
- Around 30,000 antennas for 5G in live operation
- 5G roll-out to reach two thirds of German population in 2020
Over 3,000 towns and municipalities in Germany now have 5G. Deutsche Telekom has continued to expand its network at full speed in recent weeks. Another 18,000 or so antennas have been upgraded for 5G and integrated into the live network in the past five weeks. This means that 40 million people can now use 5G. This applies to large cities such as Frankfurt or Munich as well as smaller communities such as Wallgau in Upper Bavaria, Lampertswalde in Saxony or the Loreley town of Sankt Goarshausen. And even the antennas on Germany's highest mountain, the Zugspitze, are now transmitting with 5G.
"Today, we are celebrating a special day for 5G. Half the population in Germany is now covered. 5G has arrived in all German states. This is a big step for our customers, our network and for digitization in Germany," says Walter Goldenits, Head of Technology at Telekom Deutschland. "But the 50 percent is no reason for us to rest on our laurels. The 5G roll-out continues with the same intensity. Two thirds of the population are our next target. And we want to achieve this too this year.”
Range and speed
To supply as many people as possible with 5G, Deutsche Telekom uses spectrum on the 2.1 gigahertz (GHz) frequency. The physical properties of this frequency band enable a long range. At the same time, the data speed is also increased. In rural areas, the network now sometimes achieves more than twice the speed. Customers can surf at up to 225 Mbit/s. In cities, the network reaches 600-800 Mbit/s at its peak.
The network reaches even more speed and capacity on the 3.6 GHz frequency. Antennas on this band are currently transmitting in large cities like Berlin or Cologne. They achieve transmission rates of up to 1 Gbit/s and more. Here too, the expansion continues. In the coming weeks, Bremen and Dortmund, for example, will also receive high-speed 5G.
Deutsche Telekom uses the different frequencies in such a way that they complement each other in terms of range and speed. The principle is already being used in the LTE expansion. For the time being, the 5G roll-out will focus on the 2.1 GHz and 3.6 GHz frequency bands.
LTE customers also benefit
LTE is also receiving a further boost from the technology offensive. Customers will receive a further frequency band for the use of LTE and thus more bandwidth. The use of Dynamic Spectrum Sharing (DSS) will make additional spectrum available to LTE customers. As a result, they too can surf even faster than before.
With DSS, Deutsche Telekom operates two mobile communications standards in parallel in one frequency band. The new technology distributes the spectrum between LTE and 5G users according to demand. The network automatically adapts to the needs of the respective customers within milliseconds. This leads to an even better user experience.
5G devices and tariffs
Currently, the Samsung Galaxy S20 5G models and the Huawei P40 Pro 5G support on the 2.1 GHz frequency. The OnePlus 8 models will soon be able to use this frequency through a software update. New in the Telekom portfolio is the 5G router from Huawei. In future, all other 5G devices that Telekom will introduce this year will support the new technology. Telekom has also been offering 5G calling plans for a year now. The new standard is included in all Magenta Mobile rates.
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