1&1 Says Vodafone Is Obstructing Its 5G Rollout Progress

1&1 Mobilfunk, a subsidiary of German telecom operator 1&1 AG, has announced that it is filing a complaint with the Federal Cartel Office. From 1&1’s point of view, the complaint will be subject to persistent obstacles to the expansion of its 5G mobile network by Vodafone. 1&1 wants to be an independent fourth German telecom operator and is currently building its Network. 1&1 competitors include Deutsche Telekom, Telefonica Deutschland (O2), and Vodafone, and currently, 1&1 uses Telefonica Network but wants to build its own Network and operate independently.

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Also Read: 1&1 Launches 5G FWA Home Broadband Service

1&1 agreement with Vantage Towers

In 2021, 1&1 agreed with Vantage Towers, 81% owned by Vodafone, to share 3,800 existing antenna sites with the 1&1 Network. However, the contract terms have expansion targets for 2022 which 1&1 claims were completely missed by Vantage Towers. As a result, 1&1 says at the end of 2022, it only had a total of five 5G antenna locations, partly provided by Vantage towers.

According to 1&1, Vodafone plans and develops the German antenna locations of Vantage Towers for joint use by other network operators and, in contrast, had 1,600 5G antenna locations based on the infrastructure of Vantage Towers at the end of 2022.

At the end of 2022, Vantage Towers introduced a fresh rollout plan. 1&1 says, however, during a joint meeting between Vantage Towers, Vodafone, and 1&1 representatives on Thursday, it was announced that there would be further delays and that the new rollout plan will not be adhered to.