Back in 2019, Germany held its first 5G spectrum auction, an event noted for its high prices and, more importantly, the potential entrance of a fourth national mobile operator in the form of data centre specialist 1&1 Drillisch.
1&1, which has operated as a mobile virtual network operator for numerous years via a deal with Telefonica, spent €1.1 billion on spectrum at the auction, acquiring a 5MHz block in the 2GHz spectrum band and five blocks of 10MHz in the 3.6GHz band.
Since then, 1&1 has signed numerous deals to help lay the groundwork for the launch of its own open RAN…
