5G cellular
A new mobile network: 1&1 wants to start in mid-2023
The photo shows the office complex of the internet company 1&1 in Montabaur. Photo: Thomas Frey/dpa
© dpa-infocom GmbH
Until now, the telecommunications company 1&1 has been selling mobile phone contracts that use other networks – the company pays rent for them. In the future, customers are to be connected to 1&1 antennas.
Germany’s fourth mobile network is scheduled to start next summer. The head of the telecommunications company 1&1, Ralph Dommermuth, told the dpa that antennas will be activated in all federal states from mid-2023, via which 1&1 customers will be connected to the new 5G mobile network.
He did not provide any information on the planned cover at the start. The company’s 5G network must reach a quarter of German households by the end of 2025 and half by the end of 2030. “We want to achieve these two goals sooner,” said the manager. “We are full steam ahead with the expansion.” The “Welt am Sonntag” had previously reported on the planned start.
So far there are three German mobile networks in the form of Deutsche Telekom, Vodafone and O2 – number 4 will be added soon. Industry experts then expect tougher competition, which should lead to better value for money and benefit consumers. In places where 1&1 antennas are not yet transmitting, the company’s customers are automatically connected to O2’s 4G network – this is regulated by a “national roaming” contract that 1&1 concluded with Telefónica/O2 in spring 2021 after a tough struggle Has.
In 2019, the company from Montabaur bought its own spectrum for the first time in its company history at a mobile phone auction by the Federal Network Agency, for around 1.1 billion euros. According to the frequency requirements at the time, the company is obliged to “put 1,000 base stations for 5G applications into operation” by the end of 2022, as the regulatory authority put it. 1&1 wants to fulfill this requirement. “Then you can surf the Internet and make phone calls via our network,” says Dommermuth. “At this point in time, however, it will not yet support any mobility functions in the sense of cell changes, since national roaming will not be available then.”
Mobile communications via a W-Lan router in an apartment
In the first few months, it is rather a so-called fixed network replacement product, in which mobile communications are sent via a W-Lan router in an apartment, says the CEO. Cell phones from other 1&1 customers who drive by are not yet connected to the network – that should only be the case from mid-2023.
Why will the real 5G mobile network only start in the summer of 2023 and not at the end of 2022? Dommermuth points out that, as a newcomer, his company had a lot of work ahead of it and that it was essential to conclude a “national roaming” agreement before starting to build the network. “Even during the years of network construction, our customers need connections everywhere,” says the manager. “If you were to set up a new network and the customers only had coverage on their own antennas, it wouldn’t work – then you would quickly run out of customers.”
Building a new mobile network is expensive. According to Dommermuth, the frequency acquisition and the binding orders placed, for example for fiber optic lines, antennas and services, as well as the payments already made, add up to around five billion euros. According to the company boss, the total costs for the network – ie including future orders for further construction phases – will be significantly higher.
The so-called migration of 1&1 customers who previously use the O2 and Vodafone networks will also be technically complex. 1&1 has more than eleven million mobile phone customers – the transfer of their numbers to the new 1&1 network will take time. Existing customers continue to use the other networks for the time being. “Your move to our network will begin in autumn 2023 and should then take place within a period of two years.”
1&1 presented business figures on Thursday. Last year sales rose by 3.2 percent to 3.9 billion euros. Adjusted for special effects, earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (Ebitda) increased by 5.3 percent to 672 million euros. The parent company United Internet was also on the up. The growth of both companies should continue in 2022.