Deutsche Telekom (DT) announced they will be introducing its 5G network across Germany. Initially, they will setup 5G in Berlin and Bonn, with the next cities being Darmstadt, Hamburg, Leipzig, and Munich. They plan on having 300 5G antennas spread out and online in over 100 areas before the years end. The antennas will all be connected with optical fibre. The plan is to have 20 other large cities in Germany connected by the end of 18 months. Dirk Wössner, member of the Board of Management of Deutsche Telekom and managing director of Telekom Deutschland stated that teams are busy working to make it happen.
But at present, they need to obtain a clear regulatory framework along with having other questions answered like roaming, spectrums, and the approval procedures. Unfortunately, getting through this procedure takes a long time in Germany.
18 start-ups help lead the way
Deutsche Telekom is working to lay the foundation for the roll-out of 5G in Germany, they have already installed the first 5G antennas in Berlin, based on 5G New Radio, that are all operating successfully in real-time. They will now continue by integrating mobility concepts in cities, manufacturing and virtual reality in the entertainment sector and work on providing 5G in less densely populated areas. In the last few months,18 start-ups developed their 5G products in Deutsche Telekom's live network in Berlin; the feedback has taught Deutsche Telekom how future applications benefit from combining 5G and edge computing and which service products are most relevant.
Offer 5G to customers
Deutsche Telekom will be testing the 5G network in Bonn, the company's headquarters. They have five areas that are already outfitted with the new standard of communication. The locations will be used principally to test the interchanges between network and devices. With live testing, they have found that transmission speeds over 1 Gbit/s have already been achieved.
The test fields, one in Berlin and another in Darmstadt will be releasing live 5G operations for customers this year. Michael Hagspihl, Managing Director for Consumers at Telekom Deutschland noted that they are 5G ready and they are making available for early adopters 5G enabled devices. At this time they are offering, at various dealers, the Samsung Galaxy S10 5G smartphone for 900 euros as part of its all-you-can-use data package.
The unlimited data plan is priced around 85 euros a month. Old smartphones can be traded-in, 200 euros will be credited to the customer in exchange. Data communication in real time based on 5G speeds will play a key role in many use cases in the future.
