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‘Focusing solely on fixed-network expansion when it comes to the gigabit society is a short-sighted approach,’ according to German incumbent’s CTO
Deutsche Telekom has revealed that it commissioned more than 400 new base stations in the third quarter of 2018, filling mobile coverage gaps and smoothing the way for 5G.
An additional 325,000 customers can access the German incumbent’s LTE network as a result, increasing population coverage to 97.6%, up by 0.1 percentage points.
Increasing mobile coverage now is an important part of the rollout of the future 5G network, Deutsche Telekom said, noting that the much-hyped next-generation of mobile technology will bring together fixed and mobile communications.
"Focusing solely on fixed-network expansion when it comes to the gigabit society is a short-sighted approach," said Walter Goldenits, Chief Technology Officer at Telekom Deutschland, Deutsche Telekom’s domestic unit.
"With respect to 5G we cannot afford to ease up with mobile communications expansion. We must continue to drive infrastructure expansion forward," Goldenits said.
Deutsche Telekom plans to increase the number of mobile base stations it operates in Germany to 36,000 in 2021 from 27,000 last year, and aims to increase LTE population coverage to 98% next year.
Last week Deutsche Telekom pledged to provide 5G coverage to 99% of the German population and 90% of the country’s landmass by 2025, and said it is readying 27,000 base stations for the first 5G applications.
The telco committed to investing €20 billion in Germany by 2021.
