O2 Telefónica reaches over 95% of German population with 5G services
German telecommunications operator O2 Telefonica said it had installed a total of 1,200 transmitters across Germany in the first half of this year.
The company also announced that it had completed approximately 3,400 expansion works in the first half of 2024 to improve its network infrastructure.
“With this network expansion we are strengthening the country’s digital backbone, offering our 45 million customers an even stronger network, ensuring they can always surf the web and make calls without any problems, whether in the city, in the countryside or during major events,” said Matthias Sauder, Network Expansion Manager at O2 Telefónica.
As a result of the expansion measures, O2 Telefonica now reaches more than 95% of the German population with its 5G services.
The company is providing new 5G transmitters in major cities such as Berlin, Hamburg, Munich, Cologne, Bremen, Dortmund, Stuttgart, Leipzig and Rostock.
In October 2023, O2 Telefónica announced the launch of its 5G Standalone (SA) network in the country under the 5G Plus brand. Until this launch, the German telecommunications company had been offering 5G services through a Non-Standalone (NSA) 5G architecture, partly via its LTE/4G core network.
The company noted that the new network will give customers access to Voice-over-New-Radio (VoNR) technology, allowing them to make calls with even better voice quality over 5G networks.
O2 Telefónica said it has already been using 5G SA technology in its 5G campus network for businesses and public institutions since 2020. The company noted that this new deployment will allow more businesses in various sectors, including industry, healthcare and the public sector, to access improved connectivity.
The carrier’s 5G Plus will use frequencies in the 700MHz, 1.8GHz and 3.6GHz bands.
The company said it expects its 5G SA service to be fully covered across Germany by the end of 2025.
Last year, O2 Telefónica and Ericsson completed a proof of concept (PoC) aimed at paving the way for the development of 5G Cloud RAN technology in Europe.
Ericsson and O2 Telefonica say the collaboration “validates the viability” of Cloud RAN for enterprise and industry-specific use cases, as well as fixed wireless access (FWA) use cases.
