Together More Digital for Brandenburg: DigitalAgentur Brandenburg Determines the Real Mobile Coverage Throughout the State

• Brandenburg is the first federal state to check mobile phone coverage nationwide with measuring vehicles
• First results are expected in February 2021
• Measurement data should lead to discussion of a targeted expansion – including with 5G – and thus to a noticeable improvement in mobile coverage in the largest federal state in eastern Germany

The DigitalAgentur Brandenburg (#DABB) has launched a project that is unique in Germany to date: Brandenburg is the first federal state in Germany to carry out a nationwide analysis of existing mobile coverage. To this end, an entire fleet of measuring vehicles from digitalisation expert aconium has been on the roads of the largest new federal state on behalf of the DigitalAgentur Brandenburg since November.

Using self-developed and highly sensitive measurement technology, almost the entire area of Brandenburg will be covered until the end of the year. The measuring vehicles will cover almost 40,000 kilometers on freeways, federal, rural, district and municipal roads.

The first measurement results will be presented in the course of next February. Essentially, Brandenburg is concerned with identifying any remaining “white spots” in mobile coverage and continuously improving coverage in the course of mobile network development. In addition, the experts from the Brandenburg Digital Agency want to support the German mobile network operators with real measurement data from the user’s perspective in order to align the coverage requirements imposed by the responsible regulatory authority – the Federal Network Agency (BNetzA) – with the needs of Brandenburg’s citizens, businesses and local authorities to ensure optimal services of general interest.

Measurements are taken at a height of both 3 and 1.5 meters. In this way, the measurement results can not only be compared with the official BNetzA measurement method (3 meter height), but also reflect the typical usage behavior of normal users (1.5 meter height).

Background: In order to meet the requirements of the Federal Network Agency associated with the allocation of mobile frequencies in 2015, mobile operators have had to provide 98% of households nationwide and 97% of households per federal state with a minimum bandwidth of 50 Mbit/s per antenna sector since January 1, 2020. In addition, all main traffic routes must be fully covered.

“The nationwide availability and stability of high-performance mobile networks is already a decisive criterion for companies, tradespeople and not least for all citizens,” says #DABB Managing Director Dr. André Göbel. “Especially in our state, which is sparsely populated in some areas, high-performance digital infrastructures are a decisive location factor – whether for companies for whose production processes fast internet is indispensable or for citizens who work from home, especially in times of the coronavirus pandemic.”

“It is important for us to measure radio coverage close to the everyday use of cell phones and the like,” adds Olaf Neumann, the #DABB project manager responsible. The data obtained in this way can provide targeted support for the state, local authorities and network operators when expanding the network.

Managing Director Göbel emphasises: “With our measurement campaign, we are creating an important basis for ensuring that rural areas are not left behind, but can instead benefit specifically from the opportunities offered by digitalisation.”