Mobile operator Vodafone Germany has deployed LTE technology in nine rural sites across the states of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, Lower Saxony, North Rhine-Westphalia and Bavaria.
The company plans to make the high-speed broadband network commercially…
Mobile operator Vodafone Germany has deployed LTE technology in nine rural sites across the states of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, Lower Saxony, North Rhine-Westphalia and Bavaria.
The company plans to make the high-speed broadband network commercially available in December as its rivals rush to roll out 4G services across the country.
Incumbent Deutsche Telekom and Telefonica O2 Germany have also announced they are pressing ahead with their LTE plans recently.
The three operators were awarded 800MHz licences on May 20, with the condition that they focus their LTE efforts initially in areas that lack, or have inadequate, broadband access.
Like Vodafone, Deutsche Telekom plans to launch commercial LTE services before the end of this year. O2 announced rural LTE trials last week, and plans to supply up to 1,500 locations in Germany on a commercial basis in 2011.Equipment vendors Ericsson and Huawei Technologies are supporting Vodafone’s LTE plans, while Deutsche Telekom has secured a contract with Nokia Siemens Networks (NSN).
An O2 spokesman told TelecomFinance that vendors were still pitching for its LTE manufacturing contract, which is expected to be secured before year-end. NSN and Huawei are involved in O2’s trials, and it is understood that they are also pitching for the commercial rollout.