Since the beginning of 2023, Vodafone has been specifically strengthening the mobile network on long-distance and regional train routes, implementing 1,237 construction projects nationwide. Through its infrastructure partnership with Deutsche Bahn, the German state railway, the mobile network operator has built 225 new cell phone masts near tracks, closing dead spots, including in North Rhine-Westphalia (36), Bavaria (31) and Lower Saxony (29). The improvements are part of Vodafone’s efforts to activate its 5G+ network on a large scale on Germany’s Intercity Express high-speed rail system routes by 2025.
Along with closing the coverage gaps, analysts have said the network has been improved with higher bandwidths, faster response times and more reliable data transmission. The new locations built this year all benefit from LTE technology; 66 locations also benefit from 5G; and more than 200 have 5G+.
In tunnels, Vodafone has increased transmission capacity by 33 percent with 5G+. More than 50 percent of the railway lines (9,320 miles of rail) also have 5G+ access. Of Germany’s 3,250 train stations, more than 1,800 are covered by 5G and 600 have indoor coverage.
Getting the signal inside the train can still be a challenge, however. Deutsche Bahn has announced that it will improve mobile phone reception for passengers on long-distance trains using laser technology. In the coming years, 70,000 windows on 3,300 cars will be laser-processed so that mobile phone signals reach the train directly via the windows. Previously, this required repeaters in the trains to amplify the mobile phone signal and carry it inside.
By J. Sharpe Smith, Inside Towers Technology Editor
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