Vodafone has commissioned more than 500 new construction sites and installed approximately 900 additional antennas for LTE, 5G and 5G SA.
German telecommunications company Vodafone announced that it completed more than 1,400 LTE and 5G network construction projects in the second quarter of this year.
Vodafone said in a statement that it has opened more than 500 new construction sites to expand broadband capacity, and installed around 900 additional antennas for LTE, 5G and 5G Standalone (5G SA).
A total of 180 measures were taken to eliminate existing LTE dead spots or to avoid new ones. The new 5G SA technology remains a major focus of the expansion, with a further 350 stations being upgraded to 5G SA locations. The telecommunications company noted that around half of Germany’s population is already connected to Vodafone’s 5G SA network via 5,500 5G SA locations, of which more than 4,000 stations are now equipped with antennas in the 3.5 GHz frequency range.
Currently, around 27,000 mobile phone stations across Germany provide mobile communications to 99.9% of the population.
Vodafone also announced that it completed a total of 661 major fixed-line construction projects in the second quarter of this year.
Vodafone previously announced that it had completed more than 1,200 construction projects in the first quarter of this year, substantially expanding its 5G SA network.
Vodafone Germany has partnered with Ericsson, Nokia, Qualcomm and Oppo to launch its 5G SA network in 2022. Vodafone is currently using frequencies in the 3.6 GHz, 1.8 GHz and 700 MHz bands for its 5G expansion across metropolitan areas, residential areas, suburban and rural areas across Germany.
Vodafone was the first to launch a 5G network in Germany in 2019, using the 3.5GHz frequencies it acquired from Telefonica in 2018.
Vodafone announced last month that it had installed a total of 100 5G sites using existing advertising masts in Düsseldorf.
Vodafone Germany said 50 more masts would be rolled out with 5G over the next two years, adding that the initiative would further improve reception and make the network more stable, while also resolving a major problem that remains with the expansion of 5G networks in urban areas across Germany – the lengthy search for locations for new mobile towers and lengthy approval procedures.
Vodafone’s 5G masts have received a location certificate from the German Federal Network Agency to prove their safe operation. The installed 5G antennas, built in collaboration with Ericsson, serve an area with a radius of approximately 400 meters from each mast. There are currently an average of 6,000 5G-enabled smartphone connections per mast per day, and an average of around 200 gigabytes of data flowing through Vodafone’s 5G network per week.
