Telekom tests the future of mobile communications with 5G Standalone

• Telekom continues to develop 5G innovation
  
  
• Germany's first 5G standalone antenna-site is in Garching
  
  
• 5G Standalone is the next step in 5G development

Now that Telekom has already provided 68 percent of population coverage with 5G in Germany, the next step follows: Telekom has set up Germany's first antenna-site in the town of Garching near Munich. The site will be the first in Germany with this innovative technology. Together with partners, the 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 hallmark of 5G Standalone is that the infrastructure in the core network will also be fully upgraded to a new, cloud-based 5G architecture. This is the next evolution of 5G and also a prerequisite for new deployment options. 

"It is important for us to be at the forefront of the further innovation steps of 5G," says Claudia Nemat, Board Member for Technology and Innovation at Telekom. "To ensure that our customers can take advantage of technologies such as network slicing or edge computing in the future, we continue to actively drive the development of 5G and its features."

With 5G Standalone, the network 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 today's 5G offerings are still technically dependent on a simultaneously available 4G network (LTE) and virtually "piggyback" on this network, i.e., they do not yet function completely independently.

"5G standalone is one of the goals for us with 5G," said Walter Goldenits, head of technology at Telekom Deutschland. "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 currently no terminals for customers that support 5G standalone. Telekom is therefore conducting the first tests with special development software on commercially available devices. The goal is to test various connections and applications that function completely 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.

Source: Telekom media announcement