Significant improvement in O₂ network quality

A clear rating improvement and a rise of an impressive 127 points in the 2018 connect network test serve as confirmation that Telefónica Deutschland has massively improved the quality of its O₂ network throughout Germany this year. This leap forward for the O₂ network would have been even more substantial without the more stringent measurement criteria applied this year. The company is the only German operator to have improved its result. Thanks to extensive quality improvements, the O₂ network significantly reduced the gap to the competitors in this year’s network test. It recently received a “good” rating in the network test by specialist magazine CHIP, which described the O₂ network as having made a “quantum leap”. The continued expansion of the network is already in full swing.

“We are extremely proud of the progress we have made and the success we have achieved with our network expansion measures this year. Our aim is to continuously improve our customers’ network experience, enabling them to use their digital applications without restriction at all times,” says Cayetano Carbajo Martín, Management Board member and Chief Technology Officer (CTO) of Telefónica Deutschland. “The technical network tests by CHIP and connect unequivocally confirm the positive development of our network. Our mission for next year is clear: We intend to continue to improve network quality in the interests of our customers – in cities, in the countryside and along major transport routes. We have a precise roadmap that we will systematically implement in 2019.”

In this year’s connect network test, the O₂ network scored a total of 680 points, giving it a “satisfactory” rating (2017: 553 points; “sufficient”). This represents an impressive rise of 127 points. No German network operator has achieved such a substantial improvement in its score in the space of a year since 2012 (also O₂). The company achieved this huge increase in spite of the fact that this year’s measurement criteria were significantly more stringent (including the use of crowdsourcing data for the first time). The O₂ network improved in almost all categories and KPIs. connect found the network to have made encouraging progress in terms of network quality, including in major cities. The network’s KPIs along main roads and railways have also improved. The targeted further expansion of the network is already on Telefónica Deutschland’s agenda for 2019.

Telefónica Deutschland has implemented extensive network improvement measures this year, from network integration to LTE expansion, thereby making significant progress towards establishing Germany’s largest and most state-of-the-art mobile network. It already outperforms almost all other networks in terms of the amount of mobile data used. As part of the network integration of O₂ and E-Plus, the company has modernized tens of thousands of mobile radio sites throughout Germany and equipped them with new, high-performance technology. The LTE network has also seen huge growth, with around 5,000 new LTE stations in the first nine months of 2018 alone. Telefónica Deutschland already has a clear roadmap for the year ahead: The company intends to press ahead with the expansion of its network while continuing to improve its customers’ network experience. After focusing on the network integration of O₂ and E-Plus in 2018, Telefónica Deutschland will invest even more extensively in network optimization in 2019. This includes rolling out LTE and improving network coverage along major transport infrastructures such as highways and ICE rail lines. This will help the company to make further progress towards becoming the preferred partner for customers in the German mobile communications market – the Mobile Customer & Digital Champion.