Germans Band Together to Hunt for Dead Spots

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Three German telecoms, Deutsche Telekom, Telefónica Deutschland, and Vodafone have agreed to work together to scour the countryside for unserved areas. They have branded their effort with a motto: “We hunt dead spots.” As reported by Telekom.com, the companies have signed a letter of intent that will allow them to pool resources to determine where coverage is needed.

The triumvirate of telecoms anticipates the need for up to 6,000 new cell towers to meet user demand. Working together should maximize efficiency when identifying weak spots. The agreement also dictates that the entities will divide up the underserved areas and install their own equipment to provide coverage.

“Today, we are forging an alliance to combat dead spots and increase mobile communications coverage even in areas where it is not profitable,” stated Hannes Ametsreiter, CEO of Vodafone Deutschland CEO Hannes Ametsreiter. He added, “In future, hundreds of thousands will benefit from this – people in small rural communities, people on roads, people traveling by train. Together, we operators will construct and share a common infrastructure in dead spots – and of course continue to be rivals in a competitive infrastructure market in the rest of the country. This is good for the network, good for customers and good for Germany’s digital future.”

Each of the collaborators expressed similar goals for bringing broadband coverage to all of Germany. Various agencies, such as the Federal Cartel Agency and Federal Network Agency, are aware of the plan to combine forces and have approved the plan designed to benefit the country’s infrastructure. The plan to survey the landscape and fill its empty spaces with cell towers is expected to begin later this year. 

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