TD 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 Massing and Issing in Bavaria, reports Telecompaper. Inhabitants in the area will be able to order the company’s ‘Call & Surf Comfort Via Funk’ tariff plan, which includes an internet flat-rate with a maximum down/upload speed of up to 7.2Mbps/1.4Mbps and costs EUR39.95 (USD56.2) per month for consumers and EUR33.57 for corporate users. 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, including two blocks of 2×5MHz spectrum in the 800MHz band. The company 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 unserved and underserved rural areas. In 2010 TD 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.