Vodafone currently operates more than 26,700 mobile radio stations in Germany

Vodafone Germany has deployed 4,100 5G Standalone (SA) stations with around 12,000 5G SA antennas across the country, Vodafone Germany said in a release.

Vodafone currently operates more than 26,700 mobile radio stations in Germany, which are being gradually equipped with 5G technology.

Vodafone also said that total of 1,133 construction projects were completed nationwide in June 2023 alone. Vodafone eliminated 80 LTE dead spots and increased broadband capacities at more than 600 locations by building new mobile infrastructure. Likewise, Vodafone has put 5G technologyoperation for the first time at around 450 mobile radio stations and thus upgraded these locations to 5G stations.

Vodafone has recently activated 5G SA technology in an additional 58 locations across Germany.

Earlier this year, Vodafone Germany said it expected to activate 2,700 new 5G sites with a total of 8,000 antennas in the first half of 2023.

Last year, Vodafone technicians commissioned 5,450 5G sites with more than 16,000 antennas. In total, Vodafone has already equipped 36,000 antennas with 5G, the company has said.

The carrier said its 5G network was already reaching 80% of Germany’s population. Vodafone previously said that 5G SA technology will reach nationwide coverage by 2025.

Last year, Vodafone Germany launched its 5G Standalone (SA) network in partnership with Ericsson, Nokia, Qualcomm and Oppo. For the 5G expansion, Vodafone is currently relying on frequencies in the 3.6 GHz, 1.8 GHz and 700 MHz bands in large urban areas, residential areas and suburbs and rural areas across Germany.

Vodafone initially launched its 5G network in Germany in 2019, using 3.5 GHz frequencies that it acquired from Telefónica in 2018.

Vodafone Germany had previoulsy successfully completed a field test with Open RAN (O-RAN) technology in Plauen, in the Saxony region.

The Germany carrier had previously announced that it will carry out comprehensive pilot projects for open 5G radio access networks at several locations in Germany. The first two stations for the operator’s O-RAN technology are located in rural Bavaria. The pilots are scheduled to start in early 2023 and mark the beginning of a broader deployment of O-RAN technology in Vodafone’s European mobile networks.

The pilot projects will use O-RAN hardware and software, which Vodafone successfully tested in the U.K. earlier this year. Samsung is currently supplying mobile technology and software for these O-RAN trials.