Deutsche Telekom (DT) has announced that Europe’s first 5G antennas have begun transmitting in the German capital Berlin. Claimed to be the first antennas in Europe with a live 5G connection in a real world setting, the network uses pre-standard 5G New Radio (5G NR) to achieve throughput of more than 2Gbps to a single customer device, as well as a latency of three milliseconds on commercial sites in Berlin’s Schoneberg district. DT is using spectrum in the 3.7GHz frequency range coupled with Huawei equipment for its implementation in Berlin.
‘5G New Radio in Berlin is the first major step towards 5G for everybody,’ said DT’s CTO Bruno Jacobfeuerborn, adding: ‘As soon as the standard is defined and is available, we will proceed in 2018 to lay the foundation for large-scale build-out. This is how we are driving the technology development in Europe and demonstrate our innovation power.’