Telekom starts testing 5G Standalone in Germany

Telekom in Germany has provided 68 percent of population coverage with 5G in its country, but now another step follows: Telekom has established Germany’s very first antenna-site in town of Garching near Munich. The site will be the first in Germany with this innovative technology. Together with partners, the very first steps for 5G SA are to be taken here. The antenna will soon be connected to a 5G Standalone core network. The core network will be implemented via a Telekom cloud infrastructure. The benefit of 5G Standalone is the infrastructure in the core system will also be fully upgraded to a new, cloud-based 5G architecture. This is another evolution of 5G as well as a necessity for new deployment options.

Together with 5G Standalone, the system structure and architecture is changing. The 5G technology currently deployed in Germany is based on the 5G Non-Standalone (5G NSA) network architecture. This means that now’s 5G offerings continue to be technically dependent on a simultaneously available 4G system (LTE) and virtually”piggyback” on this system, i.e., they don’t yet operate completely independently.

“The network innovation in Garching is initially the first step for us into the 5G SA live network. It helps us to gain necessary and important experience with 5G SA. A rollout in the area will then also depend on the requirements of our customers. Technology and the market will play a joint role in further development.”

There are now no terminals for customers that support 5G standalone. Telekom is therefore conducting the first tests with special development applications on commercially available phones. The target is to test various connections and software that operate entirely standalone and without the support of 4G in the coming weeks.

“The further roll-out of 5G is the preparation of our network for the next steps in 5G development. We will use every opportunity to make 5G even faster and develop it further,” says Walter Goldenits.