The new entrant into the German market says it will not delay fixed or mobile service launches
Under the terms of its 5G licence, Germany’s new entrant operator, 1&1 is supposed to have installed at least 1,000 5G antenna sites by New Year’s Eve. The company has said it does not expect to have that many sites up and running until next summer in a statement issued at the end of last week.
Further delays
The delay has been blamed a site construction partner that 1&1 didn’t name but said is responsible for about two-thirds of the sites. 1&1’s German network is the world’s third native Open RAN infrastructure, and the third that has been blighted by delays. The other two are Rakuten Mobile in Japan and DISH Networks in the US, which recently managed to fulfil its licence obligations with just hours to spare, thereby avoiding heavy penalties.
Open RAN means that the radio network is constructed using components from a variety of suppliers, all with standard interfaces, instead of relying on a single supplier for highly integrated antenna systems, including the software.
Rakuten Symphony has contractual responsibility for the build-out of 1&1’s network, reselling its expertise and technology from its own experiences in Japan. It was not cited in connection with the delay.
Encouraging caution
1&1 says its plans to launch fixed wireless access using 5G in selected areas in the coming December and to start offering 5G mobile services next summer are unchanged. Nevertheless, 1&1 has acknowledged its roaming charges on O2/Telefonica’s German network are higher than anticipated, in addition to which it is competing against established brands – Deutsche Telekom, Vodafone Deutschland and O2/Telefónica Deutschland – as a newcomer.
It is also another reason for much of the telco industry to stand back and watch the progress of Open RAN without committing to it, even if the technology itself is not to blame.