Vodafone said its 5G network already reached over 90% of Germany’s population
Vodafone Germany has deployed 4,300 5G Standalone (SA) stations with around 13,000 5G SA antennas across the country, the telco said in a release.
The carrier said its 5G SA technology currently reaches 45% of the country’s overall population. Vodafone had previously said that 5G SA technology will reach nationwide coverage by 2025.
Vodafone noted that a total of 14,200 locations with more than 43,000 antennas have been already upgraded to 5G.
The carrier said its 5G network already reaches more than 90% of Germany’s population, adding that 43% of smartphones used in Vodafone’s mobile network are now 5G cell phones, compared to 26% a year ago.
Tanja Richter, Vodafone’s network manager, said: “The 5G network is growing faster than any other mobile network before it. In the city and in the country, 5G reception is now the norm. Ninety percent of the population can already use our 5G network. And the network is being accepted: the number of users is increasing, data traffic is increasing. We are keeping up the pace of mobile communications expansion – we are densifying the network and introducing new technologies to put Germany at the top of the international 5G race.”
Since the beginning of the year, Vodafone has expanded its LTE and 5G networks at more than 5,500 locations nationwide.
Last year, Vodafone Germany launched its 5G Standalone (SA) network 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.
Vodafone Germany 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.
