Telekom Deutschland brings LTE to more rural areas

Telekom Deutschland (TD), the domestic fixed and mobile division of German telecoms company Deutsche Telekom, has expanded its rural Long Term Evolution (LTE) network to more ‘white spots’, areas where no broadband access of any kind is available. Telecompaper reports that the 4G technology has been activated in Forst, Dorsheim and Lonnig (all in the federal state of (Rhineland Pfalz), Haina (Hessen), Selk, Hennstedt (Schleswig Holstein) and Freisdorf and Stubben (Lower Saxony). According to TeleGeography’s GlobalComms Database, TD acquired ten blocks of frequencies in the 800MHz, 1800MHz, 2GHz and 2.6GHz bands in the government’s April/May 2010 spectrum auction for a total of EUR1.3 billion (USD1.87 billion), including two blocks of 2×5MHz spectrum in the 800MHz band. TD is using its 1800MHz and 2.6GHz frequencies to deploy LTE in towns and cities, while its 800MHz spectrum, which is best suited to cover rural areas with mobile broadband internet because of its reach, is being used to roll out LTE in white spots. In 2010 the company connected a total of 1,000 rural areas in Germany, previously without broadband, to the high speed network and is looking to connect a further 1,500 locations by the end of 2011.