Deutsche Telekom plans to use 2,000 Vodafone masts in the future. Conversely, Vodafone plans to use 2,000 Telekom transmission towers for its network. That doesn’t sound spectacular at first. Because already today all network operators share different transmission masts. For example, the Telekom network includes a company called Deutsche Funkturm (DFMG). It builds transmission towers and also rents them to other network operators.
But this deal is different. For example, if Vodafone rents a transmission tower from Telekom, Vodafone always builds its own antenna and own active technology. Vodafone also has to take care of electricity and the line to the transmitter. Ultimately, in this example, Telekom only rents space to Vodafone.
- More information about the collaboration between Telekom & Vodafone
Active technology and frequencies are shared
The deal is now different. Because only one of the two providers has active technology on the mast. The other uses this. In the future, for example, there will be a Vodafone transmission mast on a railway line. The antennas, which until now have only transmitted LTE from Vodafone, will also transport LTE from Telekom.
This is not noticeable for you as a customer. Your Telekom cell phone will register on the Vodafone transmitter as if it were a Telekom transmitter. Only insiders can recognize from the LTE frequency that the network used is actually a Vodafone network. Because: The frequencies always come from the provider who set up the transmitter.
The procedure is similar to roaming, but is not one
In theory, the procedure is similar to roaming – but it is not roaming. The difference: When roaming, the network operator in whose network the cell phone is located processes the entire processing of the exchange and later bills the customer’s network operator for the service. The customer’s cell phone is only a guest in the external network. This is comparable to a hotel guest in a hotel: the hotel takes care of everything, in the end there is an invoice.
However, only the frequencies and the antenna technology are used in the process used here. However, the cell phone feels at home. There is no invoice for the placement service, nor does the cell phone register as a guest in a foreign network. The comparison here: temporary home exchange.
The procedure would be used for the first time in Germany. In other countries, however, it is already being used. In Germany there are also areas such as soccer stadiums or underground tunnels where the network operators work together on the expansion, but the procedure is different. Only the antennas are shared here, but each provider builds active technology on site.
