Germany’s mobile phone providers are making progress in expanding cell phone networks. Antennas for the new 5G standard Antennas for the 5G standard, which enables fast mobile Internet, already reached 89 percent of the country’s area in July, 5.1 percentage points more than six months earlier, the Federal Network Agency told the dpa. Compared to July 2022, it was even an increase of 38.1 points.
The 5G mobile communications standard enables fast downloads of huge data packages and an almost optimal response time. The fifth generation of mobile communications is important for new applications in industry and for consumers. However, the further the expansion is, the more difficult it becomes. This is because in some places companies cannot find suitable land to rent on which to set up masts. With the slower wireless standard 4G, area coverage was 97.2 percent in July, an increase of 0.2 points since January 2023 and one percentage point since July 2022.
There are currently three mobile phone network operators in Germany: Deutsche Telekom, Vodafone and Telefónica (O2). With 1&1 there is a fourth company at the start. The numbers illustrate the progress. However, their meaningfulness for consumers is limited because they are bundled values: If a network operator in a community has 5G antennas, but the other two network operators do not, the community in question is still considered to be covered – even though it is customers of the other two network operators can’t get a 5G connection there.
The figures come from the network operators and are published by the Federal Network Agency every three months. Among the federal states, Hesse had the worst 5G area coverage in July with 82.5 percent; in Baden-Württemberg (82.6 percent) and Rhineland-Palatinate (82.9 percent) it was only slightly better. Things looked best in the city states, where network expansion is relatively easy. For Bremen, the telecommunications companies reported a combined 5G coverage of 99.99 percent. Among the regional states, Schleswig-Holstein achieved the best value with 96.8 percent, while Lower Saxony (92.8 percent), Saxony (92.5 percent) and North Rhine-Westphalia (92.1 percent) also did well.