| Germany: 50 Gigabytes of LTE 89.95 euro |
| Written by Dave Burstein |
| Saturday, 02 July 2011 19:41 |
DT is selling "up to 40 megabit" LTE, 50 gigabyte cap, beginning in Cologne and soon in 100 other cities. Verizon has essentially the same network - 20 MHz LTE - but is conservatively setting speeds of 5-12 megabits. With decent latency and likely good reliability, DT's offering is clearly a decent substitute for many with DSL. 80+% of DSL users draw less than 50 gigabytes each month. The average user in the U.S. draws about 20 gigabytes, but that's a mean and the median is lower. 89.95 euro (~$125) is a very steep price, three times as much as similar DSL and perhaps four times as much as German cable. Vodafone's LTE service starts at €39.99 ($51.) "Up to" 50 meg down with a 30 gig cap costs €69.99. 30 gig is less than 90 minutes a day. LTE is great fast wireless, but the early German offerings are very expensive as an alternative to landlines. Some people who buy LTE because they need mobility will find they no longer need a landline, but at these prices Im guessing we'll only see a modest amount of substitution. LTE Advanced, coming soon, offers easily triple the capacity at about the same cost. LTE tops out at 20 MHz; LTE Advanced can use 100. Deutsche Telekom recently added 95 MHz from the German auctions, currently unused. As they move to LTE Advanced (2013-2015) they will be able to offer deals that match what most people are getting from DSL. Germany is rapidly approaching 100% LTE coverage. The buyers in the last auction, including DT and Vodafone, were required first to offer service in the "white spaces," the "unserved" areas. Vodafone in a few months connected 1,000 small towns. The net cost, including the slightly reduced auction bids, was remarkably little and far less than the estimates in other countries for near 100% coverage. Radios, microwave backhaul, and everything else required is much cheaper than the subsidies the lobbies claim. Every regulator who cares about broadband is closely watching the German auction rules, including the most recent chief of the FCC wireless bureau. Remarkable things are practical If a regulator is smart and tough.
Cologne: The fastest connection is over the air Jun 01, 2011
Effective immediately, Cologne will be pleased not only about the 763 km of the best developed public transport system in Germany. In addition, the city will receive the fastest mobile surfing connections in the country: only 12 months after the public auction, Deutsche Telekom will launch the first LTE high-speed network (Long Term Evolution) in a major German city. After Cologne, more than 100 other cities in the entire federal territory will be provided with next generation mobile communications. Further expansion will occur in the weeks ahead.
"I am especially delighted to be able to provide the starting signal for the fastest mobile Internet here in Cologne only 12 months after the LTE public auction," said René Obermann on the occasion of the launch of the new network in Cologne with the North Rhine-Westphalia Minister for Economic Affairs Harry K. Voigtsberger and Cologne mayor Jürgen Roters. "The speed of expansion demonstrates just how important the performance of our networks is for us."
"With Cologne, we are very pleased that Deutsche Telekom has chosen to implement the new technology in a city in the most populated state. In doing so, we strengthen the Cologne business metropolis and the technology location of North Rhine-Westphalia," said Harry K. Voigtsberger, minister for business, energy, construction, housing, and transportation of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia.
Jürgen Roters, mayor of Cologne, was just as delighted: "Fast data connections are just as important today as freeway connections or an airport. Cologne is well-equipped for the future with the fast data network of Deutsche Telekom."
LTE available in the entire municipal area
The 11 lines of the Cologne city railway provide optimal networking for the individual station stops. The 100 LTE base stations serve the same function, which makes surfing with up to 100 Mbit/s possible. The 576 vehicles of the public transportation services accomplish what is also made possible by an LTE wireless USB surf stick: also utilizing the benefits of the most up-to-date technology while traveling.
"With the new LTE offering, we are expanding our product portfolio and open up interesting new applications for the population of Cologne through wireless. The opportunity thus exists to also experience surfing speed that one is accustomed to from a fixed line network on one’s mobile device," said Niek Jan van Damme, Board member and the person responsible for Deutsche Telekom business in Germany. "This opportunity will also exist in the future for many other customers in other cities."
Experience pays off
About 80 employees of Deutsche Telekom installed the technology in about 5000 working hours. Besides the 100 LTE stations, the company laid approximately 120 km of fiber optic cable in the Cologne municipal area in the past few months in order to connect the base stations with state-of-the-art transmission technology. An investment volume of about EUR 5 million now makes Cologne the fastest city in Germany when it comes to mobile surfing.
Benefits at a glance for Cologne residents
Start of a test phase with selected business customers also outside of Cologne At the same time as the expansion in Cologne, a comprehensive LTE test phase with selected business customers will already begin in June, with a focus on Munich, Frankfurt, and Münster. With the availability of speed stick LTE, the customers can be the first to experience the benefits of LTE.
Networks are the key to rapid growth
LTE: the technology of the future
Fast Internet for rural areas
An essential economical basis of network expansion in rural areas is DSL cooperation with communities. Since 2008, Deutsche Telekom has entered into cooperation with over 2500 communities and equipped more than 300,000 households with broadband. Since that time, the company has provided rural areas with broadband up to 50 Mbit/s.
As background: the Group offers cooperation where network expansion by itself is not economically justifiable due to low customer potential and high costs for Deutsche Telekom. The municipalities can then participate in the expansion in various ways, for example, by making cable duct systems available, taking over underground construction, or compensating the financial funding gap. The primary cost driver is underground engineering work, which can cost up to EUR 60,000 per kilometer. The communities usually get back the majority of their investment through the federal states’ loan program
Network expansion in the technology mix
In order to make broadband connections available to as many rural communities as possible, the Group is increasingly focused on the so-called technology mix. Where expansion of the fixed network is too expensive, Deutsche Telekom will review wireless and microwave radio system solutions to offer residents fast Internet access via alternative technologies. By the end of 2010, Deutsche Telekom provided about 95 percent of households with broadband of at least one megabit per second in the technology mix. LTE makes efficient broadband access possible and in doing so plays an important role in rural areas with comparably few wireless base stations.
About Deutsche Telekom
Deutsche Telekom is one of the world’s leading integrated telecommunications companies with around 128 million mobile customers, 36 million fixed-network lines and almost 17 million broadband lines (as of March 31, 2011). The Group provides fixed-network, mobile communications, Internet and IPTV products and services for consumers, and ICT solutions for business and corporate customers. Deutsche Telekom is present in around 50 countries and has approximately 244,000 employees worldwide. The Group generated revenues of EUR 62.4 billion in the 2010 financial year - more than half of it outside Germany (as of December 31, 2010).
|