Page 86 - SAMENA Trends - August 2019

TECHNOLOGY UPDATES SAMENA TRENDS

Vodafone Germany Extends 5G Coverage to Berlin, Other Cities

Vodafone Germany has announced that its 5G network is now including Dresden, Darmstadt, Leipzig and Mulheim an der Ruhr.
available in Berlin, with the mobile network operator (MNO) Looking further ahead, by end-March 2020 the cellco aims to have
also confirming that it currently has 40 active 5G base stations more than 160 5G antennas live in 25 cities, 25 municipalities and
across a number of locations across the country. With a first ten industrial parks and by the end of that year ten million people
base station now having been switched on in the capital (at will be connected to the 5G network, rising to 20 million twelve
the Adlershof Technology Park), Vodafone Germany has noted months later.
that two more will be activated shortly. In addition, the cellco
revealed in a press release regarding the network development
that the first 5G sites had also gone live in a number of other
new locations, including Bremen, Duisburg, Frankfurt, Solingen
and Wolfsburg. As previously reported by CommsUpdate, in July
2019 Vodafone Germany announced the commercial launch
of 5G services for consumers, with its first 25 5G base stations
switched on in 20 cities and communities at that date, including
Cologne, Dusseldorf, Hamburg, Dortmund and Munich, and
the municipalities of Birgland (Bavaria), Lohmar (North Rhine-
Westphalia) and Hattstedt (Nordfriesland). As per the cellco’s
plans, it said at the time of launch that it was aiming to increase
the number of 5G base stations it had in operation to more than 50
by the end of August, with other areas expected to gain coverage

Vodafone Portugal Stages 3.6GHz 5G Trial with Ericsson

Vodafone Portugal has successfully
trialed 5G technology, in association with
vendor partner Ericsson. The National
Communications Authority (Autoridade
Nacional de Comunicacoes, ANACOM)
allowed the telco to utilize a 100MHz block
of 3.6GHz spectrum to power the test,
which involved a ‘real-time 5G holographic
broadcast’. The demonstration involved
TV host Jose Alberto Carvalho being
‘teleported’ 400km between the TVI studio
in Queluz de Baixo and the Paredes de
Coura music festival venue. For its part,
Ericsson provided Vodafone with its AIR
6488 5G equipment.

ANFR Authorizes 5G Trials at 273 Sites

France’s independent regulator, the 5G sites in the country to 273. Orange BTS in the country that it had authorized
National Agency of Frequencies (Agence has been allowed to trial fifth-generation a total of 47,200 sites for LTE use by 1
Nationale des Frequences, ANFR), has technology at 191 sites, followed by August 2019, with 42,209 of these BTS
given the green light for 65 trial 5G base Bouygues (57) and Altice France (SFR, 25). currently in service.
transceivers stations (BTS) in the 3.5GHz The ANFR also published in its monthly
band in July, bringing the total authorized update on the number of 2G, 3G and 4G LTE

86 AUGUST 2019