Telefónica Deutschland massively expanded its LTE network in all German states in 2018. In total, the company expanded the O2 network with more than 6,700 additional LTE sites throughout Germany.
In the course of the nationwide network expansion, Telefónica Deutschland upgraded several thousand mobile tower sites in rural regions with 4G LTE standard in 2018. The newly supplied rural regions are spread throughout Germany: In northern Germany, large areas of East Frisia, Emsland, and the Schleswig-Flensburg, Vorpommern-Rügen and Mecklenburgische Seenplatte districts were added. In the east, numerous new LTE stations were built in Havelland, Spreewald, Südharz, Kyffhäuserkreis, Upper Lusatia and the Altmark. In southern Germany, parts of the Upper Palatinate and Lower Bavaria and areas of the Freudenstadt and Sigmaringen districts in particular were supplied with LTE for the first time. In the west, Telefónica Deutschland primarily advanced the LTE expansion in parts of the Eifel and in other areas of Rhineland-Palatinate and Hesse. The measures in the fourth quarter alone (October to December) accounted for more than half of the newly supplied area in 2018 – an area larger than the state of Brandenburg or countries such as Albania.
In parallel with the expansion in terms of area, Telefónica Deutschland added extra capacity to the existing LTE network with its available frequencies. The company therefore performed LTE upgrades in double and triple digits in many cities. This means that even more customers can now use the powerful LTE network at the same time with higher upload and download speeds, share images and videos with friends even faster and stream their favourite films and TV shows.
Cayetano Carbajo Martin, Management Board ember and CTO, Telefonica Deutschland said, "This year, we will significantly increase the scope and speed once again so that everyone can benefit from our fast network and fully exploit the manifold opportunities of digitalization – in cities, in the countryside and on the move."