Vodafone Germany set targets to provide standalone (SA) technology from all of its 5G sites by 2023, a move the company claimed will turbocharge its rollout and give it the most modern mobile network in Europe.
The operator launched its first commercial standalone services in April with 1,000 compatible antennas, having begun non-standalone (NSA) 5G deployments in 2019.
In a statement today (2 November) detailing its 2023 target, the operator noted its SA 5G network already covered 10 million people from 3,000 antennas, with a total of 35 million able to access NSA.
By 2023, it plans to have reached a target of 60 million people able to use its 5G network.
Although its initial SA sites used 3.5GHz spectrum, Vodafone has subsequently deployed the technology using the 700MHz band.
Vodafone Germany CEO Hannes Ametsreiter (pictured) claimed the company was “activating the most modern 5G network in Europe,” noting the latest technology would provide “extremely short response times and network slicing to people and factories”.
“Our 5G network then reacts as quickly as the human nervous system and needs less and less power to transmit data.”