German industry jostles for campus 5G

Telekom Deutschland (TDE) will be hoping that its pitch as a ‘safe pair of hands’ on campus networks will continue to resonate, as ‘local’ 5G allocations increase.

According to regulator Bundesnetzagentur (Federal Networks Agency/BNetzA), it had received 78 local 5G network applications as of 21 September 2020, with 74 granted and more anticipated. This represents a substantial increase from April 2020, when approvals stood at 43, and it appears that enterprises are embracing the nation’s liberalisation of localised mid‑band (3.7GHz/3.8GHz) rights for agricultural, industrial, and research organisations, which commenced in 2019.

In contrast to April 2020, organisations also appear increasingly willing to make their 5G allocations public. Previously, BASF (Deutsche Telekomwatch, #94), Mugler, and LS telcom were among the few divulging their intention to apply. Now, BNetzA has been permitted to publish details of 38 applicants. Although BASF does not feature on this new list, the chemical group has confirmed to Deutsche Telekomwatch that it is in receipt of 5G allocation for its Ludwigshafen site.

There are notable additions in the list, including Huawei Technologies in Düsseldorf (Vodafone Germany’s backyard) and carmakers Audi and Mercedes‑Benz, the former having partnered with TDE on 5G trials in the city of Ingolstadt (Deutsche Telekomwatch, #88). More recently, Audi teamed up with Ericsson on the use of 5G connectivity to support industrial robots.

Mercedes‑Benz, in turn, collaborated with Telefónica Deutschland (O2 Germany) and Ericsson on installation of a 5G campus network at its new Factory 56 in Sindelfingen (Telefónicawatch, #146).

If you can’t beat ‘em…

Mobile network operators had been critical of the BNetzA’s ‘industry band’ plan. Failing to block it, they now pitch themselves as key campus network partners, pushing for end‑to‑end responsibility across connectivity, service, and solutions.

DT has been steadily building up its go‑to‑market play around campus networks, supported by a strategic partnership with Ericsson and trial partners such as Audi, BASF, BMW, and OSRAM (Deutsche Telekomwatch, #93). In 2018 and 2019, TDE, the Hamburg Port Authority, and Nokia also tested different 5G applications at the Port of Hamburg (Deutsche Telekomwatch, #85).