Deutsche Telekom today said it is testing a new repeater for enhancing mobile coverage – on 4G and 5G networks — in buildings.
Customers can apply for the pilot test. The test will be available to 200 customers for doing tests. Deutsche Telekom is using a dual-band repeater for the test. The device amplifies the mobile communications signal. This ensures optimum reception in shops, pubs and homes. In addition to the 4G/LTE signal, the repeater amplifies the new mobile phone standard 5G in a first for Europe.
Deutsche Telekom customers can apply for the pilot test here. The test is scheduled to start in the second quarter of the year. Participation in the pilot is free of charge. Test customers will receive the repeater including installation free of charge for the test period. The test is regionally limited to the eight 5G expansion cities.
“Especially for our smaller business customers, this is an opportunity to equip their premises with fast mobile communications. It allows them and their customers to benefit from the new opportunities offered by 5G,” said Hagen Rickmann, managing director Business Customers of Deutsche Telekom in Germany.
Deutsche Telekom has tied up with SK Telecom, a leading mobile operator in South Korea, for conducting tests. SK Telecom has already developed 5G and 4G indoor solutions for its South Korean customers.
The Deutsche Telekom 5G network is already available in eight German cities: Berlin, Bonn, Darmstadt, Frankfurt, Hamburg, Leipzig, Munich and Cologne. The number of 5G antennas will be in the four-digit range in 2020.
Deutsche Telekom is bringing 5G to over 20 cities, including all 16 state capitals. Telekom will use 4G sites for running 5G in the first step. This is because the new technology is synchronized and brought into the network via LTE.
Deutsche Telekom is building the 5G antennas in addition to the LTE expansion. Deutsche Telekom will have up to 10,000 new LTE mobile communications sites throughout Germany over the next four years, half of them in rural areas.
Deutsche Telekom is also planning several thousand LTE extensions to existing masts. LTE coverage in Germany has reached 98.1 percent of the population. Three-quarters of Deutsche Telekom’s 30,000 mobile sites are ready for 5G business.
