Improvement of O2 network at the beginning of 2019:

Telefónica Deutschland accelerates LTE expansion

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Credits: Telefónica Deutschland
Cayetano Carbajo Martin
Telefónica Deutschland further intensified its network expansion measures in the first few months of 2019. In February 2019 alone, the company performed more than 900 LTE upgrades nationwide. With more than 220 LTE upgrades a week in February, Telefónica Deutschland nearly doubled the rate of its LTE expansion in comparison to the previous year. The network quality was noticeably improved further in many regions across Germany. After 6,700 very extensive LTE upgrades in 2018, the company is pursuing a unique mission this year: Around 10,000 LTE upgrades will advance LTE network coverage in the country toward full coverage and add to its coverage in cities. "We got off to a good start in 2019 with our ambitious network measures and really accelerated our network expansion – particularly over the past few weeks", says Cayetano Carbajo Martín, Management Board member and Chief Technology Officer (CTO) of Telefónica Deutschland. "The new O2 network lays the ideal foundation for further network expansion in cities and in the country. We will further enhance the performance of our network and keep improving our customers’ network experience."

LTE expansion in rural areas: Several hundred sites equipped with LTE for the first time

Credits: Gettyimages
Photo: gettyimages
Telefónica Deutschland expanded several hundred mobile sites of its O2 network with GSM (2G) and UMTS (3G) service by adding high-performance LTE technology for the first time in February 2019. As a result, many customers will benefit from the advantages of the fast LTE standard, especially in rural and sparsely populated areas. This helped Telefónica Deutschland further improve LTE service and network coverage in numerous German districts – from the far north (including in Schleswig-Flensburg, the Mecklenburg Lake Plateau, Cloppenburg) to southern Germany (including in Ansbach, Kronach, Schwarzwald-Baar-Kreis). (*See list at the end of the press release) At the same time, the company installed additional LTE frequencies at its LTE sites, in order to increase available capacity and speeds. Thanks to the expansion of the powerful LTE network, O2 customers in each area can surf the Internet, stream top-quality HD videos without lag, and use their digital applications at any time without restriction. Within a year Telefónica Deutschland was able to increase its nationwide LTE data transmission rates of O2 customers with LTE Max by almost 50 percent from an average of 25.9 Mbit/s to 37.5 Mbit/s. It also allows customers to make calls in HD Voice over the LTE network (Voice over LTE) with considerably improved sound quality. At the same time, companies located in Germany benefit from a modern network infrastructure for their digital applications and business models. This makes it possible for Telefónica Deutschland to provide its business customers with a machine network for their IoT applications using the two network standards Narrowband IoT and LTE-M. For example, one such application is smart metering, which is intelligently linked to gas and water connections, allowing meter readings to be performed digitally using the mobile network. After being commissioned accordingly, the technologies can be activated for the specific applications.

Improved network quality in major and small cities

The expansion measures also highlight the progress made in major and small cities thanks to a continuously improving network quality. The network testing specialist P3 Communications, commissioned by Telefónica Deutschland, measured the network quality in four select cities in January and February 2019. The O2 network for Mannheim, Ludwigshafen, Kiel and Münster were all certified with very good and good grades. In Mannheim and Ludwigshafen alone, Telefónica Deutschland performed more than 200 LTE upgrades on the way to the new, joint O2 network – thus noticeably increasing the network quality for customers and companies in the economic centre of the Rhine-Neckar metropolitan area. In Münster, the company carried out over 70 LTE expansions and modernised more than 150 locations. In Kiel and the surrounding area, Telefónica Deutschland performed around 40 LTE upgrades. Telefónica Deutschland will continuously increase the network quality for its customers in the coming weeks and months and, in doing so, make progress on its way to becoming the ‘Mobile Customer & Digital Champion'.

In February 2019, Telefónica Deutschland upgraded mobile tower sites with LTE (4G) e.g. in the following German districts for the first time:

Friedberg, Amberg-Sulzbach, Ammerland, Ansbach, Aschaffenburg, Aurich, Bad Dürkheim, Bad Tölz-Wolfratshausen, Bautzen, Berchtesgadener Land, Berlin, Biberach, Bielefeld, Böblingen, Bochum, Bonn, Bottrop, Breisgau-Hochschwarzwald, Bremen, Burgenlandkreis, Calw, Chemnitz, Cloppenburg, Coburg, Cuxhaven, Düsseldorf, Darmstadt, Diepholz, Dillingen an der Donau, Dortmund, Dresden, Duisburg, Eichstätt, Enzkreis, Erding, Erzgebirgskreis, Essen, Esslingen, Forchheim, Frankfurt am Main, Freyung-Grafenau, Friesland, Günzburg, Gifhorn, Göppingen, Halle (Saale), Hamburg, Hameln-Pyrmont, Hamm, Havelland, Heidelberg, Helmstedt, Herne, Karlsruhe, Kelheim, Kiel, Köln, Krefeld, Kreis Bergstraße, Kreis Coesfeld, Kreis Düren, Kreis Euskirchen, Kreis Gütersloh, Kreis Herford, Kreis Herzogtum Lauenburg, Kreis Kleve, Kreis Lippe, Kreis Mettmann, Kreis Paderborn, Kreis Pinneberg, Kreis Plön, Kreis Recklinghausen, Kreis Rendsburg-Eckernförde, Kreis Schleswig-Flensburg, Kreis Segeberg, Kreis Steinfurt, Kreis Stormarn, Kreis Unna, Kreis Viersen, Kreis Warendorf, Kreis Wesel, Kronach, Landshut, Leipzig, Lörrach, Ludwigsburg, Ludwigshafen am Rhein, Ludwigslust-Parchim, Mülheim an der Ruhr, München, Main-Kinzig-Kreis, Main-Spessart, Mainz, Mannheim, Märkischer Kreis, Märkisch-Oderland, Mecklenburgische Seenplatte, Mittelsachsen, Nürnberger Land, Neuburg-Schrobenhausen, Neumarkt in der Oberpfalz, Oberhavel, Oder-Spree, Offenbach, Oldenburg, Ortenaukreis, Ostalbkreis, Passau, Potsdam, Potsdam-Mittelmark, Ravensburg, Regensburg, Region Hannover, Remscheid, Rems-Murr-Kreis, Rhein-Erft-Kreis, Rheinisch-Bergischer Kreis, Rhein-Kreis Neuss, Rhein-Neckar-Kreis, Rhein-Sieg-Kreis, Rosenheim, Rostock, Rotenburg (Wümme), Roth, Rottal-Inn, Rottweil, Saale-Orla-Kreis, Schwarzwald-Baar-Kreis, Stade, Starnberg, Stendal, Stuttgart, Tuttlingen, Unstrut-Hainich-Kreis, Vechta, Verden, Vulkaneifel, Wartburgkreis, Weißenburg-Gunzenhausen, Westerwaldkreis, Wetteraukreis, Wiesbaden, Worms, Wuppertal