Almost exactly a year ago I wrote a post about how much LTE capacity network operators in Germany have on air. One network operator had a total of 2x 50 MHz of LTE on air spread over 3 frequency bands. One year later, things have again improved.
Teltarif reported a few days ago that one German network operator has now also activated LTE in the 900 MHz band. Previously, band 8 was exclusively used for GSM. I had a quick look at the global mobile spectrum assignment page and found out that the operator has 15 MHz of spectrum in the 900 MHz band in Germany. A third of that spectrum is now used for LTE by that operator.
In addition, the network operator has activated another 10 MHz carrier in band 7 (1800 MHz) since last year in addition to the 20 MHz carrier already used in that band. Together with the 10 MHz carrier in the 800 MHz band and 20 MHz in the 2600 MHz that are also on-air where I live in Cologne, the operator now uses 2x (up/downlink) 65 MHz for LTE. Very nice!
In comparison, the other two network operators are still operating 2x 30 MHz and 10 MHz respectively in my neighborhood. As a side note, the network operator with 10 MHz has, due to a merger, the most customers in Germany. And despite of this the operator is only on air with 10 MHz…