cellular standard
5G covers 57.5 percent of the area of Germany
The expansion of mobile communications with 5G antennas is particularly important for industry. Photo: Oliver Berg/dpa
© dpa-infocom GmbH
While 4G is sufficient for most mobile applications, the expansion of the fifth generation of mobile communications is of great importance, especially for industry.
The expansion of mobile communications with 5G antennas is progressing. The radio standard reached 57.5 percent of Germany’s area in January, a good four percentage points more than in October, as reported by the Federal Network Agency.
The value means that at least one of the three German mobile network operators has 5G antennas in the area. Deutsche Telekom has made the furthest progress in terms of expansion, with coverage of 91 percent – this value relates to households and not to area. With 5G, Vodafone accounts for 55 percent of households and Telefónica (O2) for more than 30 percent. All three companies are expanding strongly.
The fifth generation of mobile communications is particularly important for industry, for example for networked machines and thus more efficient production. 5G is also of central importance for self-driving cars. For consumers, the additional benefit of the very fast transmission compared to the previous standard is still limited because 4G is sufficient for most mobile applications. In view of the increasing data requirements of new applications, for example for “Augmented Reality”, the relevance of 5G for consumers will increase in the future.