Vodafone has put more than 500 new construction sites into operation and installed additional antennas for LTE, 5G and 5G SA at almost 900 other locations
German telco Vodafone said it has completed over 1,400 construction projects in the LTE and 5G networks during the second quarter of the year.
In a release, Vodafone said it has put more than 500 new construction sites into operation and installed additional antennas for LTE, 5G and 5G Standalone (5G SA) at almost 900 other locations to expand broadband capacities.
A total of 180 measures were taken to eliminate existing LTE dead spots or to avoid new LTE dead spots. The new 5G SA technology continued to be a major focus of expansion as a further 350 stations were upgraded to 5G SA locations. The telco noted that around half of the population in Germany is already connected to Vodafone’s 5G SA network via 5,500 5G SA locations, of which more than 4,000 stations are now equipped with antennas in the 3.5 GHz frequency range.
Almost 27,000 mobile phone stations now provide 99.9% of the population with mobile communications across Germany.
Vodafone also said it has completed a total of 661 large-scale construction projects in its fixed network during the second quarter of the year.
Vodafone previously said it had completed more than 1,200 construction projects within the first quarter of the year, effectively expanding its 5G SA network.
Vodafone Germany had launched its 5G SA network in 2022 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.
Last month, Vodafone said it has installed a total of 100 5G sites using existing advertising columns in Düsseldorf.
Vodafone Germany noted that a further 50 advertising columns will be equipped with 5G in the next two years, adding that this initiative ensures even better reception and greater network stability and at the same time solves a major problem that still exists throughout Germany with the expansion of the 5G network in inner-city areas: the lengthy search for locations for new mobile phone stations and the lengthy approval procedures.
The Vodafone 5G advertising columns have received a location certificate from Germany’s Federal Network Agency to prove their safe operation. The installed 5G antennas, which were built in cooperation with Ericsson, each serve a radius of around 400 meters around each advertising column. On average, there are currently almost 6,000 connections per column with 5G-capable smartphones every day and an average of around 200 gigabytes of data per column flows through Vodafone’s 5G network every week.
