95 Percent 5G Coverage: Mobile Network Expansion Gains Momentum

Contents

The Federal Network Agency has updated its Gigabit Register with the latest figures on mobile network expansion in Germany. According to the regulatory authority, data from the "Mobile Network Monitoring" as of October shows a continued positive trend in 5G coverage. Currently, around 95 percent of Germany's area is covered by the fast standard. This represents an increase of two percentage points compared to the approximately 93 percent of the previous year.

Mobile network operators are contributing to this growth and are recording increases in their individual 5G area coverage. According to the latest figures, Deutsche Telekom achieves a coverage of 86.7 percent. Vodafone is at 75 percent and Telefónica at 76.1 percent. Both companies have also significantly improved their coverage. Overall, mobile broadband coverage, i.e., coverage by at least 4G or 5G, has now grown to approximately 98 percent of the country.

Mobile Network Measurement Week Verified Availability

According to the frequency auction of 2019, the main obligations for established mobile network operators were: By the end of 2022, 98 percent of households in each federal state should be supplied with over 100 MBit/s and 1000 5G base stations should be erected. In addition, by the end of 2024, all federal, state, and national roads (with 50 to 100 MBit/s) as well as railway lines were to be covered. 1&1, as a new entrant, has deadlines until 2025 (25 percent of households) and 2030 (50 percent) for its own network expansion. However, the Federal Administrative Court recently confirmed that the award rules for the 5G frequency auction were unlawful. The Federal Network Agency must therefore realign the procedure for awarding spectrum.

The President of the regulatory authority, Klaus Müller, assesses the development positively: The expansion is on a "good path." He emphasizes the importance of the first nationwide mobile network measurement week, which took place in the summer and whose results served to validate the data collected in the monitoring. This allows the agency to better assess the actual network availability on site.

Dead Spots and Regional Differences

Despite the high nationwide coverage, the detailed data from the evaluation shows that coverage varies greatly by region. "White spots" are defined as areas that are not covered by any single network operator with 4G or 5G. At the federal level, the proportion of these dead spots is currently 1.92 percent of the total area, which corresponds to around 6869 square kilometers. These are areas where mobile broadband is still lacking. In addition, there are "gray spots": areas that are covered by at least one, but not all, network operators with 4G or 5G. Their share nationwide is 13.33 percent of the area, which corresponds to around 47,670 square kilometers.

The southern federal states are particularly affected by white spots: Bavaria has the largest absolute area of dead spots with around 2,095 square kilometers (2.97 percent of the area). Rhineland-Palatinate follows with around 604 square kilometers (3.04 percent). Hesse is at 610 square kilometers (2.89 percent).

In contrast, federal states such as Schleswig-Holstein (0.15 percent white spots), Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania (1.12 percent), or Brandenburg (1.17 percent) show almost complete coverage, at least according to the operators' data.

Technical Development: 5G Standalone

In parallel with the quantitative expansion, network operators are currently focusing on the transition to infrastructures with 5G Standalone (SA). These are systems based entirely on 5G, encompassing both the radio access network and the core network. For consumers, this means a concrete added value through better network accessibility and generally higher data rates.

At the federal level, coverage with the 5G SA standard is currently 94.93 percent of the area, which corresponds to 339,447 square kilometers. According to the regulator, this shows that network operators are strongly driving forward this full-fledged 5G expansion.

The entire mobile network monitoring is integrated into the Gigabit Register of the Federal Network Agency. Its goal is to facilitate network expansion planning for companies in both fixed-line and mobile communications and to create overarching transparency about the availability of broadband networks for the general public.

(wpl)