Germany’s leading telecom operator Deutsche Telekom has revealed that it currently offers its 5G services based on the high 3.6 GHz frequency to around 50 cities across the country. Deutsche Telekom has already deployed 1,800 antennas in these 50 cities. Deutsche Telekom uses two frequencies for its 5G services that include 3.6 GHz and 2.1 GHz frequency spectrum. By the end of March 2021, Deutsche Telekom was reported to provide access to their 5G networks to more than 66 million people across 5000 cities and towns in Germany.
Deutsche Telekom Currently Provides 5G Services to 80% of Population
In totality, Deutsche Telekom currently provides coverage to 80% of the population of Germany by leveraging its 50,000 antennas deployed over multiple locations in the country. Their high 3.6 GHz frequency bands enable download speeds that are the fastest in the entire country.
These 3.6 GHz frequency bands are usually deployed in densely populated areas where the demand for bandwidth is high. The cities to which Deutsche Telekom offers 5G services in the 3.6 GHz Frequency spectrum include but are not limited to Aachen, Augsburg, Berlin, Bonn, Braunschweig, Bremen, Darmstadt, Dortmund, Duisburg, Düsseldorf, Essen, Frankfurt/Main, Hamburg, Hanover, Jena, Kiel, Cologne, Leipzig, Ludwigsburg, Munich, Nuremberg, Saarbrücken, Schwerin, Stuttgart, Wiesbaden and Wolfsburg.
Deutsche Telekom Expects to Deploy 60,000 5G Antennas by the end of 2021
The introduction of the 5G network by Deutsche Telekom began in July 2019 with only a limited number of cities across Germany. 5G non-standalone (5G NSA) network architecture forms the basis of the primary 5G technology in the country. This makes the 5G offerings dependent on the technology of the simultaneously available 4G network LTE. Deutsche Telekom has installed the first 5G standalone antenna in Garching, near Munich, earlier this year. The 5G standalone antenna was installed to carry out trials of the 5G NSA technology.
A 5G standalone core network was connected to the antenna via cloud infrastructure. Deutsche Telekom has hopes to upgrade the infrastructure in the core network to a new, cloud-based 5G architecture. In the coming future, Deutsche Telekom expects to deploy 60,000 5G antennas that will provide its 5G services to 90% of the country’s population by the end of 2021. The telecom operator has also revealed its plans to switch off its 3G network and use the frequencies currently blocked by 3G for the 5G and 4G/LTE technologies. These plans of shutting down the 3G network will commence on 30th June this year.
Source: https://telecomtalk.info/deutsche-telekom-expands-live-5g-networks-to-50-cities/368640/