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The German mobile operator says it had built 1,334 Open RAN sites by the end of Q1
Alongside the company’s Q1 financial results this week, Germany’s newest mobile operator, 1&1, has revealed that 700,000 customers are making use of its newly built Open RAN network.
1&1 launched commercial services over its new network in December last year, though at the time the company only had around three active mobile sites of its own. In the last five months, the number of sites has increased dramatically, with 1&1 saying that it now has 1,334 sites deployed.
1&1 won 5G spectrum at auction back in 2019, announcing its intention to become the country’s fourth national mobile network operator. Since then, the company has been slowly working to develop its own mobile network, as well as striking 5G roaming deals with rivals Telefonica and Vodafone to provide services in the meantime.
The company already serves over 12 million mobile customers as a mobile virtual network operator (i.e., using infrastructure from other mobile operators), all of which it says will gradually be migrated to its Open RAN infrastructure as its rollout continues.
“The smooth functioning of the new Open-RAN technology is evidenced by initial network tests conducted by connect, teltarif and Inside Digital, which have given positive ratings to the 1&1 O-RAN,” reads the company’s Q1 report.
“Following the launch of our mobile services at the end of 2023, the first three months of financial year 2024 were focused on expanding our mobile network and starting the migration of our more than 12 million mobile customers from external networks to the new 1&1 mobile network,” the company added in a statement.
1&1 aims to expand its 5G coverage to a quarter of the German population by the end of 2025 and half the population by the end of 2030.
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