The telco partners aim to tackle the knotty problem of providing reliable 5G coverage inside buildings, with SK supplying 5G repeaters to the German operator.

Anne Morris, Contributing Editor, Light Reading

February 27, 2020

1 Min Read
Deutsche Telekom, SK Telecom plan indoor 5G trial

Deutsche Telekom is to trial 5G repeaters provided by South Korea-based SK Telecom as part of efforts to ensure that 5G services are available inside buildings as well as outdoors.

The trial with 200 test customers will be launched in the second quarter of 2020: Subject to successful feedback, the 5G repeaters could then be launched in Germany. The device looks to be the one of the first fruits of a joint venture announced by the two telcos in June 2019, with the initial objective of developing 5G repeaters and a 5G in-building offering.

Deutsche Telekom and SK Telecom, which are also co-investment partners, said the role of the repeaters is to amplify both 4G and 5G radio frequency signals, mitigating the use of millimeter wave spectrum that generate signals often too weak to penetrate buildings.

Indoor coverage has certainly emerged as one of the toughest nuts to crack with 5G. Solving the problem is important because, according to a widely cited statistic, around 80% of all mobile data traffic is consumed indoors.

Several vendors and wireless carriers are already engaged in finding a solution, as illustrated by recent stadium tests by Verizon and a new collaboration between Corning and Qualcomm.

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— Anne Morris, Contributing Editor, Light Reading

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About the Author(s)

Anne Morris

Contributing Editor, Light Reading

Anne Morris is a freelance journalist, editor and translator. She has been working in the telecommunications sector since 1996, when she joined the London-based team of Communications Week International as copy editor. Over the years she held the editor position at Total Telecom Online and Total Tele-com Magazine, eventually leaving to go freelance in 2010. Now living in France, she writes for a number of titles and also provides research work for analyst companies.

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