telecommunications
Expansion of the 1 & 1 mobile network should start soon
The internet company 1 & 1 in Montabaur in Rhineland-Palatinate. Photo: picture alliance / Thomas Frey / dpa
© dpa-infocom GmbH
Telekom, Vodafone and Telefónica already operate networks in Germany. A fourth provider with its own mobile radio frequencies will soon be added.
The fourth mobile network in Germany is gradually taking shape.
After signing a contract with a network supplier in the summer, negotiations with radio tower location operators, where the company 1 & 1 wants to rent their antennas, are on the home straight, said a company spokeswoman on Tuesday. “The contracts should be concluded promptly.” The actual expansion will start in the coming months. So far there are cellular networks from Telekom, Vodafone and Telefónica (O2) in Germany. In 2019, 1 & 1 acquired its own mobile frequencies for the first time.
By the end of 2022, the company must have put at least 1,000 base stations into operation – this is what the Federal Network Agency’s requirements for the frequency auction provide. In addition, the 1 & 1 network must reach at least 25 percent of German households by the end of 2025 and at least 50 percent by the end of 2030. “We don’t just want to meet these requirements, we want to significantly exceed them,” said the spokeswoman.
It will take some time, however, until customers surf the 1 & 1 network while on the move. “We will probably start the migration process in 2023,” said the spokeswoman. So far, 1 & 1 mobile customers have mainly used the O2 network – including its 5G connections. However, as soon as 1 & 1 releases its own fast 5G network for its customers, access to O2’s 5G network expires. So that the 1 & 1 customers are not worse off, the company first wants to have a sufficiently large network of its own and then flip the switch.
1 & 1 belongs to the telecommunications group United Internet, whose boss is the entrepreneur Ralph Dommermuth. Quarterly figures were announced on Tuesday: United Internet and 1 & 1 increased sales and operating profit in the first nine months of the year. Compared to the same period in the previous year, group sales rose by 4.6 percent to just under 4.17 billion euros, according to the company. Of this, 955.1 million euros remained as operating earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization, a good 4.3 percent more than a year ago. With a view to the end of the year, the Management Board confirmed the forecasts of both companies.