VODAFONE

Operator announces aggregation of operators in the 5G network with another frequency of 700 MHz

Vodafone is expanding its aggregation of 5G operators to include the 700MHz frequency band, the company issued a press release announcing this news. Technology, also abbreviated as CA, means the grouping of different frequencies with which more capacity and higher data rates are to be achieved. Until now, the Vodafone 5G network only contained the 3.5 GHz and 1.8 GHz frequencies – from now on these will be successively extended in several places.

According to Vodafone, a little more than 500 sites with the 700 MHz band should be taken into account for commissioning, which should above all be able to cover the entire area. The first smartphones already support the frequency band: in addition to the Xiaomi 13, this also includes Samsung's current flagship series around the Galaxy S23, S23+ and S23 Ultra.

However, frequency expansion is only the first step on the road to “real” 5G telephony – after all, phone calls are still made via LTE or GSM. From this summer it should be possible to make voice calls via VoNR (Voice over New Radio) using the 5G network. For this, voice signals are converted into data packets and transmitted via 5G, which should ensure faster connection establishment, better audio quality and longer battery life.

Basically, according to Vodafone, the expansion of the network is on track: According to the announcement, 119 LTE stations and 29 new 5G stations have been installed since the beginning of January. The two mobile networks have also been retrofitted at over 500 existing stations – this means the number of 5G-capable antennas is over 37,000, which should include around 10,000 5G+ antennas.

by mundophone