O2 Telefonica’s 5G network reaches 95% of German population

O2 Telefónica has added 5G technology to around 3,000 locations since the beginning of the year

German telecom operator O2 Telefonica, controlled by Spanish telco Telefónica, said its 5G network currently reaches 95% of Germany’s population.

O2 Telefónica implemented a total of around 7,000 expansion measures in 2023. Since the beginning of the year, the telco said has put more than 750 additional mobile phone locations into operation. The O2 network currently operates around 28,000 locations across the country.

Markus Haas, CEO of O2 Telefónica, said: “We want to offer our 43 million customers a first-class network throughout Germany. To this end, we implemented a comprehensive network expansion program this year. We have closed coverage gaps , brought 5G to additional regions and activated the latest network technology for the digitalization of Germany with 5G Plus.”

O2 Telefónica has added 5G technology to around 3,000 locations since the beginning of the year.

In October, O2 Telefonica announced the launch of its 5G Standalone (SA) network in the country under the 5G Plus brand. Until this launch, the German telco had been offering 5G services through the NonStandalone (NSA) 5G architecture partly via its LTE/4G core network.

The telco noted that the new network will enable customers to have access to voice-over-new-radio (VoNR) technology, which enables them to make calls with even better voice quality over the 5G network.

O2 Telefónica said it has already been using the 5G SA technology in 5G campus networks for companies and public authorities since 2020. With this new launch, the company noted that more companies in different sectors such as industry, healthcare and the public sector will have access to improved connectivity.

The carrier’s 5G Plus uses frequencies in the 700 MHz, 1.8 GHz and 3.6 GHz bands.

The telco said it expects its 5G SA service to reach full coverage in Germany by the end of 2025.

Earlier this year, O2 Telefónica and Ericsson had completed a proof of concept (PoC) with the aim of paving the way for the development of 5G cloud RAN technology in Europe.

The joint PoC deployment was carried out at O2 Telefónica’s Wayra innovation hub in Munich, where the partners showcased the capabilities of Ericsson’s first 5G cloud RAN installation in Europe. The PoC utilized a centralized control unit (CU) and used mmWave frequency to achieve an end-to-end speed of more than 4 Gbps, the vendor said.

Ericsson and O2 Telefonica noted that this collaboration “validates the feasibility” of cloud RAN for enterprise and industry-specific use cases as well as fixed wireless access (FWA) use cases.

The implementation of Ericsson’s cloud-native software solution for 5G cloud RAN by O2 Telefónica will enable the operator to experience significant gains in flexibility, service delivery and improved network operations, according to the vendor.