Stuttgart: 5G from advertising columns
After DĂĽsseldorf, Vodafone is now upgrading advertising pillars in Stuttgart with 5G tech. Other network providers are also exploring alternative sites.
The 5G advertising column in Stuttgart.
The first advertising column with a 5G mobile phone antenna from Vodafone will go online on Thursday at Feuerseeplatz in Stuttgart. In cooperation with the city administration, the network operator plans to equip five more advertising columns with mobile communications by the end of the year; in the coming years, this number is expected to rise to 100 advertising columns. They will supplement the 235 mobile phone stations that Vodafone operates in Stuttgart.
Many of the advertising pillars are illuminated and therefore already have a power connection. Vodafone is providing the fiber optic connection and installing the radio technology in the advertising pillars developed by the Stuttgart-based company Ilg AuĂźenwerbung.
Technology from Ericsson
The electronics are housed in the concrete structure, and three special 5G antennas from Ericsson transmit signals from under the roof of the column. The antennas provide a 5G network with download speeds of up to 500 Mbit/s within a radius of approximately 400 meters around the column.
"The search for new mobile communications sites is particularly difficult in city centers. That's why we are now also using advertising columns and equipping them with state-of-the-art, particularly small 5G antennas. This is much faster than with conventional mobile phone masts," explains Michael Jungwirth, member of the Vodafone management board.
Vodafone plans to convert up to 100 advertising columns in Stuttgart into mobile phone stations in collaboration with Ilg AuĂźenwerbung. The next three 5G advertising columns are planned for the Mercedes-Benz Museum, the MHP Arena Stuttgart, and Bad Cannstatt train station.
Vodafone can draw on experience from its home city of DĂĽsseldorf. Since fall 2021, the network operator has been operating over 100 mobile phone sites in advertising columns there. According to the company, almost 6,000 connections with 5G smartphones ran through the advertising columns every day.
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Alternative locations sought
Other network operators are also looking for alternative locations for their antennas in city centers and other places with high foot traffic. So-called small cells – Compact transmitting stations with limited power and range – can be used to supplement and relieve classic antenna locations.
TelefĂłnica Deutschland is currently experimenting with transmitters in street lamps, which are to be installed in Frankfurt, Cologne, and Hanover, among other places. The company also operates small cells in the Munich city area, among other places.
Telekom also uses advertising columns as mobile phone antennas and operates numerous such sites in Berlin, for example. As part of the dismantling of public payphones, some of the telephone booths that are no longer needed are being converted into mobile phone antennas.
(vbr)
