Network

O₂ Telefónica is creating greater flexibility in its own transport network with the so-called “whiteboxing” approach. With this new concept, the telecommunications provider ensures that the software and hardware of the numerous switching centers in the transport network – so-called IP routers – are decoupled from each other. This enables the company to remotely install vendor-independent software updates on the existing routers.

For a year now, O₂ Telefónica has been offering the real 5G, also known as 5G-Standalone (5G SA) or “5G Plus”, across its entire 5G network. The rollout of the 5G network began in October 2020. Just three years later, the telecommunications provider opened access to 5G Standalone for its customers.

O₂ Telefónica has reached a milestone in the further development of 5G. By bundling four frequency bands in 5G standalone mode, the company achieved peak download speeds of more than 1.7 gigabits per second. For comparison: that is almost twice as fast as the most powerful commercial fiber-optic connections currently available.

A mobility analysis by telecommunications provider O₂ Telefónica and analysis partner Invenium, based on a concert at the Veltins-Arena in Gelsenkirchen, provides insights into the composition of the “Swifties” in Germany.

Telecommunications provider O₂ Telefónica is continuing its comprehensive network expansion program and now covers 96 per cent of the population with its 5G network.

The telecommunications provider O₂ Telefónica has put Bavaria's first mobile phone base station into operation that operates completely independently of the general power supply. In Sindlbach, in the district of Neumarkt in der Oberpfalz, photovoltaic modules and biomethanol fuel cells supply the newly erected mast with sustainable energy.

Telecommunications provider O₂ Telefónica is optimizing its repair and maintenance measures at around 28,000 mobile network sites, thereby ensuring an ever-better network experience for its 45 million customers. Thanks to various quality initiatives, the company was able to reduce the number of necessary repair measures per site by more than a third compared to 2019.

O₂ Telefónica is using a new analysis tool that maps the status of its 28,000 mobile network sites and over 50,000 transport routes in real time. This "digital twin" helps to improve the network experience of millions of O₂ Telefónica customers.

Why the country needs a comprehensive, preferably eight-year extension of the frequency spectrum in times of AI and advancing digitalization.

Telecommunications provider O₂ Telefónica launches the 5G Cloud Core, a new 5G core network built entirely in the cloud, using technologies from European network equipment provider Nokia and from Amazon Web Services (AWS).

Telefónica and Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. today announced that the companies have launched their first virtualized RAN (vRAN) and Open RAN commercial site in Germany. It is the first time that Samsung’s 5G vRAN solution is being used in a commercial network in Germany. The site is now operating in Landsberg am Lech, Bavaria, providing high-performance and reliable 4G and 5G services to customers.

Telecommunications provider O₂ Telefónica is trialling the 5G technology "5G RedCap" (Reduced Capability) to connect Internet-of-Things devices cost-effectively. Thanks to new radio modules in the end devices, 5G RedCap enables reduced 5G networking of wearables, industrial sensors and monitoring systems adapted to the actual application purposes. The devices can thus be produced, integrated into the network and operated more cost-effectively.

Five years ago, the 2019 frequency auction marked the start of the 5G rollout in Germany. Today, O₂ Telefónica's 5G network already reaches 95 per cent of the population. Whether Berlin or Braunschweig, Munich or Mönchengladbach - O₂ Telefónica has covered almost one hundred per cent of Germany's largest cities with 5G. The majority of rural regions and an increasing number of transport routes are also ready for the future thanks to the fast 5G rollout. Current figures from O₂ Telefónica show that mobile data usage in Germany will continue to increase exponentially with 5G.

O₂ Telefónica in Germany and Ericsson (NASDAQ: ERIC) will start deploying Cloud RAN, supporting 5G Standalone (SA), in Offenbach, Germany in the first half of 2024, marking the first deployment of Ericsson Cloud RAN in Europe.

Premiere for the first completely self-sufficient radio tower from O₂ Telefónica: With the mobile communications site in the Hessian town of Kirtorf, the mobile communications provider is closing one of the last white spots. Among other things, the 50-metre-high mast transmits with the modern 5G standard. Solar cells and a highly efficient fuel cell generate sustainable electricity on site - because the site does not have a conventional electricity connection.

Telecommunications provider O₂ Telefónica is equipping the new multifunctional SAP Garden sports arena in Munich with a modern 5G network. Sports fans at the 11,500-seat venue in Munich's Olympic Park, the new home of Red Bull Munich's ice hockey team and FC Bayern Munich's basketball team, will benefit from high data transfer rates and short response times when surfing the O₂ network.