It starts: 1 & 1 builds its own cell phone network after long preparation. The company will set up its own mobile network with the help of a partner and has now announced numerous details about the network expansion and development.
As 1 & 1 AG (the former Drillisch) announced, it has decided to partner with the Japanese Rakuten Group. As part of this long-term partnership, the aim is to set up the fourth mobile network in Germany. Together with Rakuten, 1 & 1 will build Europe’s first fully virtualized cellular network based on OpenRAN technology. This is a kind of network expansion that some established network operators are now also using.
Instead of using the network with technology from a single network supplier, OpenRAN is an open standard and, like 1 & 1, a completely cloud-based, manufacturer-independent network architecture. All network functions are in the cloud and are controlled by software. Retrofitting or maintenance on the base stations of the antennas is obsolete according to information from 1 & 1 and can be carried out through software updates.
REAL 5G, 500 DATA CENTERS, OWN FIBER OPTIC NETWORK
Four central data centers are planned for the core network. Around 500 decentralized data centers throughout Germany will be connected to this, which in turn will be connected to the antenna locations via fiber optics. The sister company 1 & 1 Versatel provides data centers and fiber optic cables.
In an interview with Handelsblatt, 1 & 1 boss Ralph Dommermuth said that 1 & 1 was using “only real 5G ” for the expansion . A swipe at Telekom & Co., which advertise with a large 5G coverage. In fact, in large parts of Germany they are only giving the LTE network a new sticker. “” We only use antennas that deliver gigabit speeds and always connect them directly to the nationwide fiber optic transport network from 1 & 1 Versatel. So we don’t just play software updates on conventional 4G antennas, as our competitors usually do, ”said Dommermuth in the business newspaper. A real challenge to the competition.
WHO IS RAKUTEN?
In April 2020, as a newcomer in Japan, Rakuten launched the world’s first commercial, fully virtualized OpenRAN cellular network. 1 & 1 will now benefit from this experience and expertise. The Japanese are to take over the installation of the active network equipment. Rakuten is also responsible for the overall performance of the 1 & 1 mobile network, announced 1 & 1. 1 & 1 will have access to the control platform. According to media reports, 1 & 1 will transfer the Japanese between 1.9 and 2.3 billion euros over the next ten years for work as a general contractor.
“Rakuten optimally complements our know-how in telecommunications networks, data centers and cloud applications. Together we are building a high-performance mobile network that has extensive automation and agility in order to fully exploit the potential of 5G, ”says 1 & 1 boss Ralph Dommermuth. Using the new technology will make you “a manufacturer-independent innovation driver in the German and European mobile communications market.” According to 1 & 1, the network is to be “operated in a highly automated manner”.
WHEN DOES THE EXPANSION OF 1 & 1 START?
The construction of the 1 & 1 mobile network will start in the next quarter, according to the network operator. Actually, you already wanted to build. 1 & 1 had recently targeted the start of expansion in the second and third quarters of 2021, now the provider is moving to the fourth quarter. The head of the company explains that it will be so late in
the lengthy negotiations with the other network operators about national roaming . The provider needs this for areas in Germany where the network is not yet ready to start. Ultimately, an agreement was reached with O2 . In the background there has already been an acquisition of locations and the fiber optic networks of the subsidiary 1 & 1 Versatel are also being expanded.
According to the company boss, there is an exact schedule of when the first 50 percent of German households will be supplied with the new network. But you don’t want to publish it. The requirements of the Federal Network Agency for the expansion of the new network will be met. This means that the new network operator will have to supply at least 25 percent of households by the end of next year. That’s about 10 million households. In addition, there must be 1,000 locations with 5G by then.
