Deutsche Telekom has revealed its eight-point strategy to ensure a fast, successful launch of 5G network in Germany.
Deutsche Telekom aims to offer 5G coverage to 99 percent of the population and will target 90 percent 5G coverage by 2025. Deutsche Telekom’s 4G network will achieve this level in 2021.
Deutsche Telekom makes annual investment 5.5 billion euros in Germany. Deutsche Telekom will invest 20 billion euros in Germany by 2021. It will be buying 5G spectrum during the upcoming 5G spectrum auction.
“We’re breaking with industry tradition and also talking about coverage in less-populated areas,” said Dirk Wossner, Board member for Telekom Deutschland.
A report by Ovum sponsored by Intel said 57 percent of global wireless media revenues will be generated by using the super-high-bandwidth capabilities of 5G networks and the devices that run on 5G as early as 2025.
The average monthly traffic per 5G subscriber will grow from 11.7GB in 2019 to 84.4GB per month in 2028, at which point video will account for 90 percent of all 5G traffic.
Media and entertainment companies will be competing to win a share of a near $3 trillion cumulative wireless revenue opportunity during 2019-2028. Experiences enabled by 5G networks will account for nearly half — or $1.3 trillion — of this revenue opportunity.
Deutsche Telekom strategies
# Mobile communications infrastructure
Deutsche Telekom will cover 99 percent of the population with 50 Mbit/s by 2020. It will double the bandwidth to 100 Mbit/s by 2022. It will cover 99 percent of the population and 90 percent of the country with 5G by 2025.
Deutsche Telekom will offer speeds of one Gbit/s in some places. It will provide problem-free coverage along highways, federal roads, and railways.
# The largest fiber-optic network in Germany
Deutsche Telekom has 500,000 kilometers of fiber that will power 5G. It will be building out an additional 60,000 kilometers each year. Deutsche Telekom connected 22,000 LTE sites to fiber-optic network. It already operates a 5G network in Berlin.
# Faster mobile build-out
Deutsche Telekom will build over 2,000 new mobile sites – four times more than originally planned — each year. Many of these will eliminate white spots. It also plans to build 10,000 smaller radio cells to improve coverage at particularly high-demand locations or inside buildings.
# Shared use of infrastructure
Deutsche Telekom will share the 5G network infrastructure with other network operators, particularly in rural areas. The best example is its partnership with Telefonica’s O2 in Germany. Deutsche Telekom has already partnered with local providers such as EWE TEL and municipal utilities in the fixed network business.
# Developing a 5G infrastructure together with German industry
Deutsche Telekom is offering the industry an opportunity to support the development of a European, standardized platform.
# Faster digitalization for administration
Deutsche Telekom has tied up with the Fraunhofer Institute, Acatech, and Stadte- und Gemeindetag (German Association of Towns and Municipalities) to develop suggestions to achieve faster digitalization of authorities and administrations.
# Faster networks for people living in Germany
5G will support people in Germany to enjoy significantly faster networks and higher transmission speeds – both mobile and at home.
5G in Germany
Walter Goldenits, CTO at Telekom Deutschland, says it serves 24.4 million households with speeds of up to 100 Mbit/s and more over the fixed network. Top speeds of up to 250 Mbit/s are already available to around ten million households in Deutsche Telekom’s fixed network. It installed 1.3 million new lines with this speed in the third quarter alone. It aims to offer speeds of up to 250 Mbit/s to 28 million households in 2019.
Telekom Deutschland connected around 22,000 mobile base stations with fiber. Once the current round of modernization is complete, all mobile base stations will be equipped to run initial 5G applications such as the NB-IoT.
Deutsche Telekom is speeding up the installation of antenna sites. The company operates 27,000 of them and will be adding at least 2,000 each year. Their number will reach 36,000 by 2021. The sites already use Single RAN technology that is capable of supporting the first 5G applications.
Deutsche Telekom has begun testing a first campus network together with its customer Osram at their factory campus in Schwabmunchen, Bavaria, on the basis of LTE. The company aims to deploy mobile robots as autonomous guided vehicles to transport materials within the factory.
