Whether smartphone, television or tablet: More and more people in Germany are dependent on an internet connection – at least a reasonably reliable one. But millions of households still do not have access to the fiber optic network. Deutsche Telekom wants to change that as quickly as possible.
Deutsche Telekom is accelerating the expansion of its fiber optic network. After the fast and stable fixed network connections were made available in two million households this year, between two and a half million and three million more are to be added in 2023.
“We are accelerating our fiber optic expansion, despite the crisis, despite the inflation,” said Germany boss Srini Gopalan. By the end of 2024, fiber optics should reach ten million households. That would be about double what it is now. “There’s a lot to do,” Gopalan said. Given the large number of devices that are connected to the Internet in homes in the digital age, the need for data is enormous – whether smartphones, televisions or fitness watches.
One annoyance for him is the complex and long approval process. If you want to lay fiber optics in a street, you need an average of 21 different permits. “That can not be.” The manager appealed to politics and administration to allow a more uncomplicated procedure. Other laying methods that do not require cables to be so deep underground would also be helpful.
The Telekom group is also making rapid progress in mobile communications. According to the company, 94 percent of German households can now receive Telekom’s 5G network. By 2025, the figure should be 99 percent. A good 80,000 Telekom antennas – each location usually has three antennas – transmit with 5G. Around 8,000 of them will be using the 3.6 gigahertz band at the end of this year. This relatively high frequency band enables a particularly high data throughput with minimal latency. What is meant by this is the reaction time after input commands – this is important for consumers, for example in online games and for virtual reality applications.
