The Greek government’s auction Wednesday of 5G-capable spectrum is only a portion of the 5G news internationally.
In Greece, frequencies in the 700MHz, 2GHz, 3.4GHz-3.8GHz and 26GHz bands will be auctioned. All three incumbent cellcos – Cosmote, Vodafone and Wind – have been cleared to participate.
In other 5G news:
- Free Mobile has become the fourth French operator to launch a commercial 5G network, offering nearly 40 percent of the population coverage from the outset. The coverage spans rural areas as well as towns and cities.
- Vodacom South Africa has expanded its 5G network footprint to include 156 new locations in KwaZulu-Natal province, supporting mobile and fixed wireless access (FWA) services.
- Telekom Deutschland, the domestic fixed and mobile business of Deutsche Telekom (DT), has increased coverage of its 5G network in Bremen and Hanover. The firm says it has switched on 18 antennas operating in the 3.6GHz band in each of the two cities to provide maximum download speeds of 1Gbps.
- Slovenian fixed and mobile provider T-2 has launched a pilot 5G network at its headquarters in Ljubljana, testing equipment and services ahead of an auction of the spectrum, which is scheduled for early next year. The firm is testing micro base stations using 3.6GHz frequencies, with plans to expand testing to include macro base stations.
