New mobile radio standard Telekom launches 5G in Bonn

Bonn · This year, the first six cities are to be supplied with the new mobile communications standard. The group intends to close further T-Shops for the benefit of online sales.

 Bunte Leerrohre für Glasfaserleitungen für schnelles Internet liegen an einer Landstraße bei einem Dorf. Sie sind Teil der 5G-Infrastruktur.

Bunte Leerrohre für Glasfaserleitungen für schnelles Internet liegen an einer Landstraße bei einem Dorf. Sie sind Teil der 5G-Infrastruktur.

Foto: picture alliance/dpa

Deutsche Telekom plans to supply the first six cities in Germany with the new 5G mobile communications standard before the end of this year. Berlin and Bonn are starting, where there are already test networks. This will be followed by Darmstadt, Hamburg, Leipzig and Munich. The company announced this on Wednesday in Berlin.

Effective immediately, Telekom will offer a 5G smartphone from Samsung as well as a 5G router that can supply up to 20 devices via Wlan as a portable hotspot. "With it we can make partly fixed net connections unnecessary , said a Telekom manager. The cost for 5G is quite high: A combined flatrate for 5G and the past nets costs 84.95 Euro per month, without „Telefonie“ it’s ten Euro less.

The halfway fast start does not come unexpectedly: Telekom, the market leader, had long since declared that it wanted to lead the way in setting up 5G networks for real-time mobile communications in Germany. On June 12, the three network operators Telekom, Vodafone and Telefonica Deutschland bought a 5G license at auction. United Internet also received a license. Vodafone is now trying hardest to attack 5G as well: On Wednesday, the Düsseldorfers announced that they would supply a Bundesliga stadium with 5G technology in the 2019/2020 season, and that they want to be able to supply 20 million citizens with 5G by 2021.

Films could be loaded in a few seconds

By the end of 2019, Deutsche Telekom plans to set up around 300 5G stations in the six starting cities. In the 18 months that follow, the 20 largest cities in Germany are to be connected, said Dirk Wössner, member of the Deutsche Telekom Board of Management responsible for Germany. Cologne and Düsseldorf will then also be connected to the 5G network. The company did not want to commit itself to a specific date, even when asked to do so.

As applications for 5G, Deutsche Telekom relies on gaming on the one hand, and on being able to transport much larger amounts of data in a very short time on the other. Since 5G can easily transport one gigabit of data per second, films could be loaded in a few seconds, said Claudia Nemat, Chief Technology Officer.

Korea shows new application of Augmented Reality in 5G network

And because the new network can transmit impulses in real time between two devices, it is possible for users to take part in a live concert on stage via augmented reality. During a demonstration in Berlin, a company founder from South Korea showed how young people there can dance synchronously with a digitally displayed star - thanks to fast data transmission, the dance partners actually kept the rhythm.

So while Deutsche Telekom is increasingly focusing on digital business in the future, it is also converting its analog business. Insiders confirm that around 40 of the 500 or so T-Shops currently in operation are to be discontinued. This was reported by the "Handelsblatt".

Deutsche Telekom states that it is increasingly focusing on online sales, whereas the importance of its own stores is declining. According to "Handelsblatt", up to 1,200 of the 4,500 jobs in the T-Shops are threatened. What is certain is that Deutsche Telekom wants to talk to the works councils about future job cuts. Talks are to begin soon.

(Original text: Reinhard Kowalewsky, Translation: Mareike Graepel)

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