Telefónica Deutschland (Telefornica/O2 Germany) recently announced that it is continuing its own network expansion offensive in 2021 - with a much stronger focus on 5G and the technological transformation of the network.
In recent weeks, O2 Germany has continuously expanded its 5G network. The 5G network now operates in more than 30 German cities with around 1,000 5G antennas. O2 Germany is currently using exclusively the most powerful 5G variant in the frequency range around 3.6 GHz in order to offer its customers the greatest possible capacities and at the same time create the prerequisite for using real 5G applications.
O2 Germany said it will build around 6,000 5G antennas in the frequency range around 3.6 GHz in 2021. In addition, there will be several thousand more 5G stations over 700 MHz and 1800 MHz. While the Dynamic Spectrum Sharing (DSS) technology commonly used in the German market is used at 1800 MHz, which transmits 4G and 5G in parallel, O2 Germany uses pure 5G at 700 MHz.
This enables the provider to bring 5G New Radio even better into the area. So far, 5G is still based on the 4G standard (=5G non-standalone). O2 Germany is now putting the 5G standard on its own feet and launching its 5G standalone network before the end of 2021. This will allow 5G to develop its full potential, with gigabit speeds, low response times of up to 1 millisecond, and innovations such as network slicing - the division of the network into several individual networks.
Markus Haas, CEO of Telefónica Deutschland / O2
Via our expansion offensive and cooperations with competitors, our O2 network will grow significantly - from currently over 26,000 to 35,000 mobile sites in 2024. As a result, we will offer our O2 customers an even better mobile experience.
Mallik Rao, CTIO of Telefónica Deutschland / O2
We are bringing our O2 5G network to more and more cities and also rural regions. We are focusing on an intelligent mix of real 5G, DSS and state-of-the-art network technologies. By the end of the year, we already want to cover more than 30 percent of the German population with 5G and provide a nationwide 5G network by 2025.
