Actualización: ¿Dónde está Alemania en el 5G a nivel internacional?

29.04.2022

7 minutos de lectura

A Alemania aún le queda camino por recorrer para alcanzar su objetivo declarado de convertirse en campeona mundial del 5G, aunque ya se han logrado avances significativos. Sin embargo, en el ranking internacional, la República Federal ha perdido terreno en cuanto a cobertura 5G, a diferencia de lo que ocurre con las conexiones básicas a Internet.

A mediados de 2021, Alemania se convirtió en el primer país en impulsar una ley para la conducción autónoma en condiciones operativas regulares. No obstante, para poder recorrer la República Federal de punta a punta sin conductor, sería necesario contar con una red 5G de cobertura generalizada. Sin embargo, algunas zonas rurales aún no disponen ni siquiera de cobertura 3G o 4G, como mostraron unas impactantes imágenes televisivas. Unas veces se veía a desesperados habitantes del campo alzando el móvil en lo alto de una colina; otras, a alumnos y alumnas que, durante la pandemia, se subían a las mesas y agitaban sus dispositivos como si buscaran algo entre la niebla.

Finales de 2020: Todavía lejos del liderazgo mundial en 5G

De hecho, Alemania está lejos de liderar el mundo en 5G y, en comparación internacional, ha perdido aún más terreno, situándose en el puesto 24 en cuota de conexiones 5G y en el 22 en cobertura 5G (hasta la semana 17 de 2021), un retroceso mayor al observado por Opensignal entre principios de julio y finales de 2020.

Como informamos a finales de 2020, la República Federal se situaba entonces en el puesto 8 en disponibilidad de 5G y en el 11 en uso de 5G.

Actualización 2022: ¿Qué cambios se han producido desde entonces en el 5G en Alemania?

Pero, ¿qué cambios se han producido desde entonces? Los análisis y encuestas de umlaut, publicados por la revista especializada Connect en un especial sobre el 5G, lo demuestran:

Germany is on par with 4G and HD video

The table shows that the USA, and especially some countries in the Middle East and Far East, are already far ahead of Germany. Among the European leaders are the Netherlands and Switzerland. However, the deployment of 5G networks in «virgin territory» is usually much simpler than in countries with a highly developed 4G infrastructure, such as Germany, Norway or Sweden. And in terms of 4G or LTE coverage, Germany can boast an international level of 95.99 percent.

In terms of basic internet coverage (at least 2 Mbit/s), Germany even surpasses Norway and takes the top spot worldwide, while in HD video (at least 5 Mbit/s) and UHD (at least 20 Mbit/s) it maintains practically the same position, according to evaluations based on crowdsourcing by umlaut and Connect.

These figures are nothing more than snapshots, as between week 26 (end of June 2020) and week 17 (end of April 2021), the deployment of 5G networks in Germany advanced enormously from zero, as shown by the maps included in the Connect special. On the other hand, in South Korea, due to its high previous coverage, the advancement of 5G seems almost stalled during the observed period. Judging from the statements of the operators, the deployment of 5G in Germany would be much more advanced than it really is. According to the Connect-umlaut special, Deutsche Telekom would have been able to reach 66 million people, approximately four-fifths of the German population, with 5G already in the first half of 2021. Vodafone mentioned having reached 20 million people in Germany and wanted to exceed the 30 million mark by the end of the year. O2 or Telefónica aims to reach approximately half of the German population by the end of 2022, but until mid-May 2021, it had only installed 1,300 5G antennas in 60 cities.

According to the Bundesnetzagentur, in October 2021, only 1.79 percent of the national territory was completely covered by 5G, and 53.23 percent by 5G DSS. These acronyms correspond to Dynamic Spectrum Sharing, which allows for the first time the parallel use of LTE and 5G in the same frequency band.

The problem lies in the fact that 5G requires a much denser antenna network than 4G, LTE or 3G (UMTS). The start of UMTS and LTE meant that mobile operators had to pay expensive licenses, so they preferred to build the infrastructure mainly in cities.

Consolidation of infrastructures meets resistance

Technically, 5G needs many more antennas than the existing ones. Without national roaming or collaboration between different 5G license holders, as the Bundesnetzagentur intended, each operator would have to build its own dense 5G antenna infrastructure. This would guarantee growing rejection from the population.

People and companies in more remote areas were left behind. This error was intended to be avoided with 5G, but, under pressure from the large established operators, the Bundesnetzagentur was unable to impose its criterion to follow the advice of experts and link the granting of licenses to the obligation of national roaming. The traditional operators, known as incumbents in English, also did not want new competitors to enter their market and take advantage of their expensive infrastructure.

Therefore, 5G DSS represents a good strategy to combine the capabilities of 4G and 5G.

Good practices as a source of inspiration

Another example is provided by Axians, which has managed to integrate several antennas on the roof of a skyscraper in Ulm, as explained by expert Armin Przirembel in this article. Many people are unaware that one of the reasons for the delay in the development of mobile networks in Germany is precisely the lack of initiatives to create a common infrastructure. In a project in Neu-Ulm, Axians has gathered the antennas and technology of the main operators on a single roof.

5G: sí, por favor. ¿Más antenas? No, gracias

Como informó el RedaktionsNetzwerk Deutschland (RND) a principios de 2022, las ciudades y municipios desean el 5G, pero preferiblemente sin nuevas antenas ni instalaciones. La empresa Vantage Towers, especializada en torres de telecomunicaciones, se enfrenta a obstáculos en este proceso. «Entre el 10 y el 15 por ciento de los pedidos son casos problemáticos, siendo optimista, diría yo», lamentó ante el RND el miembro del consejo de administración Christian Sommer. «Una red 5G con amplia cobertura que también satisfaga exigencias como la conducción autónoma probablemente necesitará 50.000 antenas a nivel nacional», afirmó Sommer. Y añadió: «No siempre se trata de grandes mástiles, sino también de pequeñas celdas, por ejemplo, en paradas de autobús o en semáforos».

Sommer considera infundados los temores sobre una exposición excesiva a la radiación, pero estos no pueden pasarse por alto sin más. Queda por ver cómo avanzará el despliegue y qué desafíos planteará el 5G.

Fuente: iStock / erhui1979