o2 had to settle for 3rd place behind the competition for a long time. Recently, however, the Telefónica brand has been able to make up a lot and even make up one place. But now it shows: o2 has an urgent need to catch up.
100 MBit/s by the end of 2022: o2 has to push hard
It’s time again to take on the German mobile networks – at least that applies to the three operators Vodafone, Telekom and Telefónica/o2. They must meet the requirements of the 2019 spectrum auction by the end of 2022. While Telekom and Vodafone are on the right track, it should o2 still have a long way to go to have. This emerges from a report by the Federal Network Agency, which the authority submitted to the Digital Committee of the Bundestag.
The goal is therefore clear: the operators must all achieve 98 percent coverage by the end of the year, with a minimum speed of 100 Mbit/s being specified – and this value does not apply to the whole of Germany, but to each federal state. According to the report, o2 does not yet cut a good figure in comparison: Only 4 of the 16 federal states are sufficiently supplied. In Brandenburg and Bavaria, for example, there is still a large gap to be closed. The coverage there is 88 or 90 percent (source: dpa via Spiegel).
Total lies Telefónica/o2 is well behind the competition at 95.1 percent. Vodafone leads the comparison with 98.3 percent and has already achieved the target for the year. Telekom came in second with 98.2 percent.
The figures in the report come from the network operators and correspond to the status of April 2022. According to Telefónica/o2, you can reach 95.6 percent at the end of May – more than in April, but well behind Vodafone and Telekom.
Whether Vodafone, o2 or Telekom – regular cancellations pay off:
Despite the distance to Vodafone and Telekom: o2 wants to deliver on time
“We are very confident that we will also be able to meet the next supply requirements,” says the company. After all, that was also successful in 2015, when the aim was to bring 50 Mbit/s to the area.
At that time, however, according to Spiegel an extension of the deadline from the Federal Network Agency. The coming months will show whether o2 will be able to deliver within the first period this time. The speed of expansion so far at least gives hope – despite the clear gap to the competitors.