Vodafone technicians have been busy in Germany, activating 13,000 additional 5G antennas since the beginning of this year.
In total, more than 34,000 5G transmitters are transmitting in the Vodafone network, bringing 5G to 55 million people in Germany. But the real advancements are coming in the area of standalone (SA) 5G. The company said its SA 5G network is now ready to be used in areas covering more than 15 million people.
For most incumbent operators, 5G SA is the more advanced version of 5G after non-standalone (NSA), which depends on LTE for the core network. With 5G SA, more advanced capabilities are accessible. In the U.S., SA 5G is what Dish Network is building right out of the gate.
For Vodafone Germany, SA 5G is known under the “5G+” moniker, offering super fast latency times in addition to high bandwidth. Faster response times are especially advantageous when it comes to gaming and apps that use virtual reality (VR) or augmented reality (AR), the operator points out.
Still, Vodafone Germany isn’t giving up on LTE, noting that 4,200 LTE construction projects have been implemented since the beginning of the year. The company plans to complete 3,000 more LTE construction projects by the end of 2022. Those projects include activating new locations and modernizing existing mobile radio stations.
From a usage standpoint, Vodafone reports that its new network in Germany transports about eight times more data than a year ago. In the last week of June alone, about 1,500 terabytes of data traveled through Vodafone’s 5G network. To put that into perspective: A person could stream Netflix films for around 120 years with that amount of data.
Vodafone and vendor partner Ericsson boasted last year that their deployment in Germany was the first standalone 5G installation of such scale in Europe. T-Mobile in the U.S. claimed the first large scale SA 5G deployment, with its nationwide launch in 2020.
Vodafone launched 5G in Germany in 2019.