Vodafone has begun deploying Ericsson’s innovative Interleaved AIR 3218 antennas to improve the performance, capacity and coverage of its 5G network without increasing its existing antenna footprint.
The lack of suitable rooftop locations for additional 5G antennas is a major issue in German urban areas: many of the available rooftop sites do not meet network planners’ static requirements, and current LTE mast locations often lack the space to install additional 5G equipment.
Tanya Richter, Vodafone’s head of technology, explained the complexity of the situation: “Strong winds put pressure on the surface of antennas mounted on roofs. The more mobile phone antennas there are, the higher the wind pressure.”
“This also increases the demands on wind resistance and statics, which has meant that so far not all existing rooftop locations have been able to be upgraded with active 5G antennas.”
Ericsson’s new antenna design offers a solution that integrates an active antenna behind a passive antenna.
Highlighting the benefits, Richter said: “This means that less space on antenna towers is needed to deploy more 5G in urban areas. Innovations like this will further accelerate the expansion of 5G in Germany and help cope with data traffic that is growing by more than 30 percent per year.”
The first of these compact 5G antennas has been installed in a multi-storey car park in Düsseldorf and Vodafone plans to deploy up to 500 more across its network by the end of 2026, significantly facilitating the network expansion on rooftops in Germany in particular.
These advanced antennas support low- to mid-band frequencies, ensuring high coverage and capacity essential in urban environments, delivering data rates of over 1 gigabit per second within a relatively small area, providing 5G coverage up to a one-kilometer radius.
Daniel Leimbach, head of Ericsson’s Western Customer Unit, says: “The use of compact active-passive antennas will enable improved mobile broadband experiences in cities in the future. Ericsson’s Interleaved AIR 3218 significantly simplifies site upgrades and accelerates 5G rollout in areas that were previously limited due to building regulations, urban planning laws or structural reasons.”
From a technology perspective, the Interleaved AIR 3218 combines antenna-integrated radio and multi-band passive antenna technology into one solution, enabling Vodafone to add high-performance 5G capacity without expanding the site footprint. Supporting frequencies from 700MHz to 3.5GHz, the antenna allows Vodafone to expand both coverage and capacity with FDD uplink and TDD downlink.
As cities continue to grapple with growing demand for faster and more reliable mobile connections, innovations like Ericsson’s Interleaved AIR 3218 can play a pivotal role in overcoming the physical constraints of dense urban environments.
The deployment marks a major step for Vodafone towards strengthening Germany’s 5G infrastructure and could set a precedent for other operators facing similar challenges in expanding their urban networks.
(Image courtesy of Vodafone)
reference: Vodafone and Meta collaborate to optimize European networks
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