German telco Deutsche Telekom (DT) has kicked off the rollout of its 5G network in six cities across the country, the company said in a release.
The initial rollouts are taking place in Berlin and Bonn, which will be followed by Darmstadt, Hamburg, Leipzig, and Munich.
DT said that a total of 300 5G base stations in more than 100 locations across the country will be deployed and brought online by the end of the year.
In the upcoming 18 months, the 20 largest cities in Germany will be connected with 5G, according to the operator.
In a recent spectrum auction, Deutsche Telekom obtained 130 megahertz of spectrum in both 2 GHz and 3.6 GHz bands.
“We punched our ticket for a 5G future with the spectrum auction. Our goal now is to get 5G to the streets, to our customers, as quickly as possible. Nearly three-quarters of our antenna locations in Germany are connected with optical fiber – we’re now building on that,” said Dirk Wössner, member of the Board of Management of Deutsche Telekom and managing director of Telekom Deutschland. “Our teams are working hard in every area. Whether we’re talking about the network, rate plans, or devices and applications – we’re speeding up to get 5G started this year. At the same time, we need a clear regulatory framework and pragmatism from the authorities – particularly when it comes to questions regarding regional spectrum, local roaming, allocation of the auction proceeds, and the approval procedures – which takes far too long in Germany.”
The company also highlighted that it will continue to invest in its existing 4G infrastructure.
“5G is the future. But at the same time, we know we still have to do our homework in our existing network, which is why the LTE build-out is still a major focus. We plan to build around 2,000 new mobile base stations this year alone. A particular aim is to eliminate white spots in rural areas,” Wössner added.
In parallel, Deutsche Telekom is working on 5G campus networks, together with industrial users. In this approach, the network build-out follows the specific needs of business customers.
“We’re already working on the 5G network with Osram and automotive supplier ZF,” said Claudia Nemat, Deutsche Telekom board member for technology and innovation. “Whether mobility concepts in cities, manufacturing in the industry of tomorrow, or virtual reality in the entertainment sector is involved: 5G is the key. And the industry can count on us as a partner in the 5G rollout.”
Deutsche Telekom also said that the first 5G smartphone available for customers is the Samsung Galaxy S10 5G.
Deutsche Telekom also said that the company has added a new test area for 5G technology which is located in the city of Bonn. Five locations across the city have already been equipped with 5G technology. In combination with Deutsche Telekom’s 5G lab, the new network will be used primarily to test the interaction between network and devices. In a live test with commercially available devices, the Bonn 5G network has already reached transmission speeds of over 1 Gbps. Deutsche Telekom operates other test fields in Berlin and Darmstadt. According to plans, all the test fields will be released for live 5G operation for customers in this year, DT said.
