Deutsche Telekom has expanded its commercial 5G service to the city of Hamburg, after it launched it in Berlin, Munich, Cologne, Bonn, and Darmstadt in September.
The Operator is expected to launch 5G service in Leipzig by the end of 2019. In total, there are plans to install more than 300 antennas in Germany by the end of the year. The network in all the 5G cities will also be consolidated further over the course of the coming year, and 5G will then be rolled out to more cities. By the end of 2020, at least 20 of the largest cities in Germany are to be connected to the network.
In June, the Operator secured 4 frequency blocks in the 2 gigahertz band and 9 frequency packages in the 3.6 gigahertz band for a total of 2.17 billion euros.
Dirk Wossner, Member of the board of Management of Telekom Deutchland
The network rollout in Germany has suffered a significant setback. The price could have been much lower. Once again, the spectrum in Germany is much more expensive than in other countries. Network operators now lack the money to expand their networks. With the auction proceeds one could have built approximately 50,000 new mobile sites and close many white spots.
