5G requirements don’t go far – 5G conditions are not enough

Published on: January 15, 2019 / Update from: January 15, 2019 - Author: Konrad Wolfenstein

5G requirements don’t go far – @shutterstock | Tupungato

The providers are expected to install 1,000 5G base stations by 2022. At the same time, the Federal Network Agency obliges mobile phone providers to distribute their coverage proportionally across the federal states. The strategy consultancy LSP Digital has now used a model calculation to calculate how far this obligation actually goes. Result: The supply requirements will only reach a fraction of the households in a federal state (from 0.4 percent in Berlin to a maximum of ten percent in Bavaria). It can be assumed, particularly in city states, that the actual number of 5G base stations will be significantly higher. But the expansion will probably progress more quickly than the requirements suggest. Deutsche Telekom alone has announced that it will supply 99 percent of households with 5G by the end of 2025.

Basic assumptions of the model calculation
- 5G license allocation from Telekom, Vodafone and O2
- The mandatory number of base stations is set up in the population centers (largest cities in each federal state)
- LSP estimate is based on the number of households/km2 per city, the radio range of a 5G Antenna, the average household size per federal state and the expected overlap in the cities

The providers have to install 1,000 5G base stations by 2022. At the same time, the Federal Network Agency obliges the mobile phone providers to distribute these proportionally across the federal states. The strategy consultancy LSP Digital has now calculated in a model calculation how far this obligation actually carries. Result: With the coverage requirements, only a fraction of the households in a federal state will be reached (from 0.4 percent in Berlin to a maximum of ten percent in Bavaria). In the city states in particular, it can be assumed that the actual number of 5G base stations will be significantly higher. However, the expansion will also probably proceed faster in terms of breadth than the condition would suggest. Only Deutsche Telekom has announced that it will supply 99 percent of households with 5G by the end of 2025.

Basic assumptions of the model calculation
– 5G license allocation from Telekom, Vodafone and O2
– The mandatory number of base stations is set up in the population centers (largest cities in each federal state)
– LSP estimate based on number of households/km2 per city , radio range of 5G antenna, average household size per province and expected overlap in cities

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