Deutsche Telekom (DT) is making progress on its 5G Standalone (SA) network, with more than 5,000 antennas transmitting at 3.6 GHz.
The company said that about 350 new sites have been added in recent weeks. The 5G SA network is now available in more than 200 urban centers and cities across Germany.
The 5G SA network can provide download speeds of up to one gigabit per second and enables a minimum response time of less than 10 milliseconds, the operator said.
DT uses the 3.6 GHz frequency exclusively for 5G, but it also taps into the 2.1 GHz band, where it uses dynamic spectrum sharing (DSS) to divide the available spectrum between 4G LTE and 5G. In total, its 5G service is available to 90% of the population in Germany.
Unlike the Non-Standalone (NSA) version of 5G, 5G SA doesn’t require LTE technology in its core network. It enables super low latency and enables features such as network slicing.
Earlier this year, DT announced that it had extended its campus network portfolio to offer location-specific 5G mobile networks based on 5G SA. Ericsson was named as the network technology supplier.
That offer includes support for companies from a range of industries and operates completely separate from the public mobile network: All components of the infrastructure, from the antennas to the standalone core network to the network server, are located on the customer's premises.
According to DT, the simplified nature of the offer means the network can be built from planning to handover to the customer within just three months. Ericsson provides the requisite 5G SA technology, while DT takes on the planning, deployment, operation as well as maintenance and optimization.
The 5G SA network operates on frequencies in the 3.7 to 3.8 GHz range that are specifically allocated to the enterprise, providing up to 100 MHz bandwidth for exclusive use within the private campus network.
Rival Vodafone Germany turned on a 5G SA network about a year ago and recently announced the name for it: 5G+. Some 4,000 antennas in the Vodafone network support 5G SA and in 2025, the “full 5G” from Vodafone will be available to almost everyone in Germany at home.
As of mid-March, the operator said 16 mobile phones and tablets from a variety of providers would support the latest in 5G technology.