Deutsche Telekom first to market in Germany with limited 5G rollout (updated)

HTC

03/07/2019 11:39

* Market leader to offer 5G in 6 German cities this year
    * Coverage to extend to 20 cities in 2020
    * To invest 5 billion euros in infrastructure buildout this
year
    * Unlimited 5G data deal offered at 85 euros/month
    * Pilot project with Huawei in Berlin goes live

 (Adds comment on Huawei, detail on consumer offerings)
    By Markus Wacket and Douglas Busvine
    BERLIN/FRANKFURT, July 3 (Reuters) - Deutsche Telekom
 DTEGn.DE  stole a march on its competitors by announcing a
limited rollout of 5G services in its German home market on
Wednesday, targeting early adopters in cities with the
high-speed mobile technology.
    Existing 5G trials will be opened up to public use in the
German capital Berlin and in Bonn, where Deutsche Telekom is
headquartered, with four more cities to follow this year. By the
end of 2020, 20 German cities will get 5G coverage.
    "Our goal now is to get 5G to the streets, to our customers,
as quickly as possible," Deutsche Telekom's Germany head, Dirk
Woessner, told a glitzy presentation in Berlin.
    Networks running on 5G offer much faster download speeds
than existing 4G services while latency - or reaction times - is
reduced to milliseconds. That can power multi-player video games
or run billions of devices and sensors connected to the
industrial Internet of Things (IoT). 
    Deutsche Telekom bid 2.17 billion euros ($2.45 billion) for
130 Megahertz of the 420 MHz of 5G spectrum allocated last month
in Germany's longest-ever auction of mobile frequencies.
 urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL8N23J5IT
    It competes with existing operators Telefonica Deutschland
 O2Dn.DE  and Vodafone  VOD.L , while new market entrant 1&1
Drillisch  DRIG.DE  also acquired spectrum to serve as the basis
for a fourth national network.
    The market leader, which is partly state owned, had
complained that the high cost of the auction had left a "bitter
aftertaste" and would sap the ability of network operators to
invest in costly network upgrades.
    But it will still be able to plough 5 billion euros ($5.6
billion) this year into building out its network infrastructure,
technology chief Claudia Nemat told the same briefing. 
    Germany lags countries like South Korea and the United
States in rolling out 5G services.
    Also on Wednesday, Vodafone said it is switching on its 5G
network in seven U.K. cities and would continue to invest in
rolling out 5G with the aim of reaching at least eight million
consumers by 2021.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nFWN24408V 
    
    HUAWEI CUSTOMER
    Deutsche Telekom partnered with Huawei Technologies  HWT.UL 
in a Berlin 5G trial now being opened up to users, despite calls
by the United States on its allies to bar the Chinese network
vendor on national security grounds.
    Instead of imposing blanket bans, Germany has toughened
security rules on all network vendors. Deutsche Telekom, for its
part, is conducting an ongoing review of its vendor strategy and
said it was in close touch with regulators and the government on
the matter.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL5N20U5KL
    "The most important criterion is network security," said
Nemat. "And the most important statement to make here is that we
should not depend on one vendor."
    Germany's three main network vendors are Huawei customers
and, industry sources say all are keen to build on their
existing relationship with the Chinese vendor as they adopt 5G.
The alternative, of ripping and replacing existing gear, could
set back rollouts by years and cost billions, they warn.
    
    CONSUMER FOCUS
    Deutsche Telekom is making 5G-enabled devices available to
early adopters with immediate effect, offering the Samsung
Galaxy S10 5G smartphone for 900 euros ($1,017) as part of its
all-you-can-use data package.
    The unlimited data plan will be priced at 85 euros a month. 
    It is also marketing a mobile 5G hotspot hub from HTC
 2498.TW , which offers speeds of up to 1 gigabyte per second
and can run up to 20 devices, at a price of 556 euros, plus a 75
euro monthly fee for unlimited data use.
    "We are doing this for the people who want to be there at
the very start," said Michael Hagspihl, head of consumer
business.
    Deutsche Telekom will bring 300 5G-enabled antennas into
service this year, making use of its newly acquired 3.5
Gigahertz spectrum that is most suited to urban coverage.
    More broadly, the company will continue to build 2,000 new
masts per year, bringing the total to 36,000 by the end of 2021,
as it strives to meet coverage requirements for its existing 4G
network set by the network regulator, said Woessner.
 ($1 = 0.8852 euros)

 (Writing by Douglas Busvine
Editing by Deepa Babington)
 ((douglas.busvine@tr.com; +49 69 7565 1271; Reuters Messaging:
douglas.busvine.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))