Telefónica Deutschland / O2 in cooperation with the energy provider Mainova, has put Hesse's first smart 5G street light into operation in Frankfurt am Main.
It reliably supplies its surroundings with 5G throughout the day and also provides light during the hours of darkness using highly efficient LED technology. Thanks to the innovative street light, O2 customers within a radius of about 250 metres around Gutleutstraße 280 will receive excellent coverage with the new and fast 5G standard - in addition to the existing 2G/3G/4G mobile coverage.
As a first step, O2 customers will benefit from higher and more stable speeds for all data-intensive applications in the O2 mobile network. In the future, real-time applications such as connected driving can also be realised with 5G at such locations.
In cooperation with the energy provider Mainova and its subsidiary SRM Straßenbeleuchtung Rhein-Main, O2 can now offer fast 5G mobile communications to even more people in Frankfurt with the selective coverage. The prerequisite for use is a 5G-capable smartphone with a corresponding SIM card. It carries the active antennas needed for 5G coverage in its head at a height of about ten metres and is connected to the Frankfurt fibre optic and SRM lighting network.
O2 has been massively expanding the 5G network in Germany since October 2020, including in Frankfurt am Main. Telefónica Deutschland / O2 will cover 30 percent of the population nationwide with 5G by the end of the year, 50 percent by the end of 2022 and the entire population by the end of 2025. From next summer, O2 will additionally start with a pure 5G operation, the so-called "5G Standalone" network. 5G will then enable ultra-short response times of a few milliseconds.
This will allow the full potential of the technology to be exploited for applications such as connected driving in real time or augmented and virtual reality (AR/VR).
Mallik Rao, CTIO of Telefónica Deutschland / O2
On the way to our 5G full coverage of the population by the end of 2025, we are investing massively in network expansion throughout Germany. In doing so, we are also focusing on innovative initiatives and solution approaches that accelerate the targeted roll-out of 5G in Germany.
