24.01.2019
Telefónica Deutschland to participate in the 5G auction
Telefónica Deutschland is setting the stage for the company’s participation in the planned frequency auction for the next generation of mobile service (5G). As a first step, the complete documents were submitted to the Federal Network Agency (BNetzA) in a timely manner. Telefónica Deutschland sees major business opportunities in 5G, particularly in the context of Industry 4.0. The new mobile standard will is likely to result in the development of new and innovative applications. 5G promises to also bring advantages and efficiency gains to Telefónica’s own network management.
“In the interest of our customers, shareholders and society, we want to make our contribution to the expansion of the digital infrastructure,” said Markus Haas, CEO of Telefónica Deutschland. “It is more important than ever for politics and business to come together, because we need clear and fair conditions which promote investment above all else. Germany cannot afford to fall behind!” Thanks to a further increase in transmission speeds and lower latency, the future mobile standard 5G will open up completely new fields. This is particularly relevant to industrial applications; for consumers, this performance boost will likely be noticeable only at a later date.
While applying for the auction, Telefónica Deutschland still has concerns regarding the auction conditions set by the regulator. By the end of 2018, Telefónica – amongst a number of other companies – had filed complaints against this set of rules. The kind of infrastructure roll-out needed to secure Germany’s digital future requires multi-billion investments. A legally secure framework is therefore vital.
Alongside the planning for 5G mobile services, Telefónica is currently heavily investing in further expanding LTE (4G), with the aim of providing more and more people in Germany with access to fast mobile internet, including outside the urban and suburban areas. In 2018, the company integrated over 6,700 new LTE stations into the network - more than any other provider in Germany. The broadband coverage reached in 2018 as a result of this roll-out is roughly equivalent to the size of Lower Saxony. In addition to investing in transmission sites, the company is entering new partnerships for fibre-optic lines to connect mobile phone base stations as well as laying the foundations for the further rapid growth of data volumes in the network, and thus securing the future use of 5G. “Our vision is to build Germany’s biggest, most modern mobile network,” says CEO Markus Haas.