With the agreement, Telekom goes beyond state expansion obligations.
(Photo: IMAGO/HEN-FOTO)
Bonn Deutsche Telekom wants to significantly improve its cell phone network on the Autobahn. The Bonn-based company announced on Tuesday that it had entered into an agreement with the federal autobahn GmbH. Telekom intends to set up 400 additional radio sites and modernize existing systems along the 13,000 kilometers of German autobahn in the coming years.
The Magenta Group currently has a good 6,000 locations along the freeways. The investments are intended to increase the available transmission rate from currently at least 100 megabits per second to 200 megabits per second by the end of 2027.
The federal company is aiming for comparable agreements with the other two German network operators – Vodafone and Telefónica (O2). The Telekom cooperation with Autobahn GmbH provides for a simplified and faster location search, including construction planning.
In addition, the company will provide Telekom with space right next to the roadway so that new masts can also be built on embankments, in rest areas or at construction yards.
With the agreement, Telekom goes beyond state expansion obligations. A corresponding specification from the 2019 frequency auction states that every network operator must cover all motorways with at least 100 megabits per second from the beginning of 2023. All three network operators reported to the network agency that they were complying with this obligation. The supervisory authority is currently examining whether this is also true.
However, according to the Federal Network Agency’s list of conditions, the mobile phone network obligation does not apply where an expansion is “legally and actually” not possible – for example because no property owner is willing to rent his land as a radio tower location.
The connection is also sometimes poor in tunnels or in nature reserves. In the future, drivers can also end up in a dead zone, even though the expansion requirements have been met.
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