Press Releases Telefónica Germany for topic #network

On the 30th anniversary of the German unification, Telefónica Germany / O₂ enters the 5G era. In cooperation with the Bavarian Prime Minister Markus Söder, the CEO of the Munich-based company Telefónica Deutschland / O₂ switches on the 5G network of O₂. "We are starting off the data turbo for digitization from Bavaria, for Germany", said Markus Haas at the switch-on ceremony.

On October 3, O₂ will launch the 5G network in the five largest German cities Berlin, Hamburg, Munich, Frankfurt and Cologne. This way the core brand of Telefónica Germany sets a sign for digital progress and mobile freedom in a symbolic virtual act on the 30th anniversary of German reunification. The same also applies to the new mobile communications standard: O₂ democratizes high-tech. By offering the best value-for-money 5G proposition, O₂ will open up access to the 5G experience to all consumers. O₂ private customers will enter the 5G era with the commercial marketing of the offers on 6 October. They can use 5G from day one at no extra charge. Attractive offers for O₂ business customers will follow soon. They will all experience completely new dimensions of digitalisation with O₂ in the future.

Telefónica Deutschland / O₂ has broken the 20,000 mark for 4G coverage of mobile phone sites with its current network expansion offensive. Since the beginning of the year, the network operator has set up around 4,000 4G stations to provide numerous towns and districts with mobile O₂ high-speed networks for the first time. In addition, more than 2,000 additional 4G stations are in operation at existing locations to provide more capacity and higher surfing speeds for mobile data use. Thus, O₂ network engineers have improved the 4G mobile coverage for over 5.5 million people in the O₂ network since the beginning of the year. The 4G mobile communications standard enables O₂ customers to use all digital applications even when they are on the move.

Telefónica Germany / O₂ is the first German network operator to build its 5G core network as well as crucial 5G network functions for new industry solutions in the cloud. Via the cloud-based 5G core network, new industry solutions can be developed faster, production and logistics processes can be automated even more and applications implemented in real-time (edge computing). In an industrial use case proof of concept, Telefónica Germany / O₂ will use Amazon Web Services (AWS) and its proven cloud infrastructure to virtualize its 5G core. In addition, the company is relying on 5G core and orchestration components from the Swedish telecommunications supplier Ericsson.

The Corona crisis has once again shown how important a well-functioning digital infrastructure is for maintaining public life. Our networks are far better than their reputation - they have passed the stress test! This was made clear again today by the federal government, the states, local authorities and the network operators in their joint declaration on the occasion of the second mobile communications summit under the leadership of Federal Minister Andreas Scheuer.

Telefónica Deutschland Holding AG has signed an agreement with Telxius Telecom S.A. (Telxius) on the spin-off and sale of its passive infrastructure. Approximately 10,100 mobile sites, which are mostly situated on rooftops, will be transferred to the infrastructure company at a purchase price of 1.5 billion euros. The active radio technology at the transferred sites will remain the property of Telefónica Deutschland and will continue to be used to operate the mobile communications network.

Telefónica Deutschland is building the o2 mobile network of the future. For the particularly security-relevant 5G core network, the company is relying on a European provider in the form of the Swedish telecommunications supplier Ericsson. With this groundbreaking decision, the company is setting the course for a secure, digital network for the country in the coming 5G era.

The current challenges around the corona topic influence the private and professional life of millions of people. Many customers are at home, working from their home office, looking after their children or are in contact with their schools and universities via the Internet. The O₂ network has a very special role to play in meeting people's increased need for information and communication in these times. More than ever, we are dependent on mobile networking.

With its strong performance, the O₂ network secures the grade "good" in the current mobile phone benchmark 2020 of PC Magazin and PC Go, two sister magazines of the trade magazine connect. This puts the network on an equal footing with the other network operators* in the rating ("good"). The O₂ network convinced in various categories and thus once again demonstrates its reliability and performance in the digital customer's everyday life.

Telefónica Deutschland has secured a loan from the European Investment Bank (EIB) amounting to 450 million euros. The company intends to use the proceeds to build an energy-efficient 5G network and to upgrade its LTE network. In December, Telefónica Deutschland announced that it would significantly increase its investment in the mobile network in 2020 and 2021.

The mobility of the future is becoming tangible: The telecommunications provider Telefónica, together with the German testing company DEKRA, has inaugurated a new test centre for networked and autonomous driving in Malaga, Spain. On the premises, the companies are testing modern 5G solutions and "Vehicle to Everything" (V2X) vehicle technologies together with other cooperation partners from the automotive and technology sector.

In the past twelve months, customers sent almost 1 billion gigabytes of data volume through the O₂ mobile network - also because self-employed people and small businesses are using more and more mobile data. This shows that the O₂ tariffs with their large data volumes at attractive prices meet the needs of customers. For private customers, O₂ will, as just announced, equip the new data tariffs with twice as much performance at the same price and offer three new unlimited tariffs.

The O₂ network establishes the Exabyte era in German mobile communications: In the past twelve months, customers sent almost 1 billion gigabytes of data volume through the O₂ mobile network. This corresponds to about one Exabyte of mobile data. Never before has so much been consumed. With this data volume, you could stream music for more than 1.5 million years at a stretch. In a competitive comparison, the O₂ network is therefore at the forefront when it comes to mobile data usage in Germany.

The decade of mobile communications is starting with new records and an outstanding firework of data. On New Year's Eve 2019/20, customers in the O₂ network consumed more data than ever before. In the first hour of the new year (0-1 o'clock) alone, around 190,000 GB of data flowed through the O₂ mobile network - a new record!

Telefónica Deutschland plans to accelerate its growth significantly in the coming years. Between 2020 and 2022, the company intends to increase its revenue by at least 5 percent overall while further increasing its profitability. As a basis for growth, an additional several hundred million euros are to be invested in network expansion.

At the latest since the frequencies required for 5G came under the hammer in the frequency auction in June 2019, 5G has been making the headlines again and again and causing many political debates about the great opportunities for the economy and society.

Telefónica Deutschland is implementing the largest LTE expansion program in the company's history. The company consistently pushed ahead with the expansion of the O₂ LTE network in October and put more than 550 new LTE transmitters into operation. This has improved broadband coverage and LTE capacities in all 16 federal states.

In the current network test of Smartphone Magazine, the O₂ network was awarded with a "good" rating. With 310 points, O₂ is at eye level with the runner-up in the overall ranking (312 points). Among other things, the O₂ network scored with the best network coverage in Germany (99.96 percent) and strong results in YouTube streaming or ping times.

With today's signing of the national mobile network pact, another important step has been taken jointly by politicians and network operators to advance Germany's digital transformation. In the summer of 2018, the federal government, local authorities and network operators signed a declaration of intent on how the LTE expansion in Germany can be driven forward. Telefónica Deutschland is firmly convinced that the digitization of Europe's largest economy can only succeed with the close cooperation of all parties involved.

Telefónica Deutschland continued to massively expand its LTE network in the summer month of July, connecting many holiday resorts to the fast Internet. From the Baltic Sea to the Black Forest, the company put more than 600 new LTE transmitters into operation last month. The extensive measures directly benefit O₂ customers in their digital everyday lives: The quality of the O₂ network has been further improved by the expansion measures in numerous German cities and communities as well as along important traffic routes. Every hour, the network receives new LTE transmitters for better LTE coverage, higher average data rates and more LTE capacities. In total, the company will install around 10,000 new LTE transmitters in its network this year.

More LTE, higher speeds and again an even better nationwide network coverage - Telefónica Deutschland draws a very positive half-year result for its LTE expansion in the o2 network. In the course of this year alone, the company has put 4,400 new LTE transmitters into operation throughout Germany.

The expensive frequency auction has deprived the market of billions, at the same time the network rollout requirements demand a lot from the mobile operators. In an interview with Redaktions Netzwerk Deutschland (RND), CEO Markus Haas explains that sanctions do not promote network expansion and that Germany now needs politicians and business to join forces.

The spectrum auction is behind us, and the next landmark decision concerning the future of the German telecommunications market is already upon us: The European Commission is about to decide whether Vodafone should be allowed to purchase large parts of Liberty Global's European cable network. A statement by board member Valentina Daiber.

Together with telecommunications company Telefónica Deutschland and network supplier Ericsson, Mercedes-Benz Cars is putting in place the world's first 5G mobile network for automobile production in its "Factory 56" in Sindelfingen.

In a short interview, Cayetano Carbajo Martín, Chief Technology Officer of Telefónica Deutschland, talks about the importance of the deployment of private networks for the company and the role that telecommunications providers will play in the future.