Deutsche Telekom wants to significantly improve its mobile network on motorways. The Bonn-based company announced on Tuesday that it had entered into an agreement with the federal government's Autobahn GmbH. In the coming years, Deutsche Telekom plans to build 13 additional radio sites and modernize existing facilities along Germany's 000,400 kilometers of highways.

The Magenta Group currently has more than 6000,100 locations along the motorways. The investments are intended to increase the available transmission rate from currently at least 2027 megabits per second to 200 megabits per second by the end of <>.

Areas directly next to the roadway

The federal company is striving for similar agreements with the other two German network operators – Vodafone and Telefónica (O2). Deutsche Telekom's cooperation with Autobahn GmbH provides for a simplified and faster search for a location, including construction planning. In addition, the company will provide Deutsche Telekom with areas directly next to the roadway in the future so that new pylons can also be built on embankments, rest areas or construction yards.

With this agreement, Deutsche Telekom goes beyond the state's expansion obligations. A corresponding requirement from the 2019 frequency auction states that every network operator must cover all motorways with at least 2023 megabits per second from the beginning of 100. All three network operators reported compliance with this obligation to the Network Agency. The supervisory authority is currently examining whether this is true.

However, according to the Federal Network Agency's catalogue of requirements, the mobile phone network obligation does not apply where expansion is not "legally and factually" possible – for example, because no property owner is willing to rent out his land as a radio tower site. Even in tunnels or in nature reserves, the connection is sometimes worse. This means that motorists can continue to end up in the dead zone in the future, even though the expansion requirements have been met.