1&1 requests the Federal Cartel Office [Bundeskartellamt] to review the hindrance of the construction of the fourth German mobile network. Slight delays in network launch possible.

Montabaur, 23 February 2023. 1&1 Mobilfunk GmbH (1&1), a subsidiary of 1&1 AG, will be filing a complaint with the Federal Cartel Office tomorrow. From 1&1’s point of view the subject of the complaint will be ongoing obstacles to the rollout of its 5G mobile network resulting from actions by Vodafone GmbH (Vodafone).

In 2021, 1&1 has agreed with the listed company Vantage Towers AG (Vantage Towers) for the shared use of 3,800 existing antenna sites for the new 1&1 network. Pursuant to the agreement, Vantage Towers is currently by far the most important rollout partner for 1&1. The contract agreement defined expansion targets for 2022. Vantage Towers has missed these almost completely. At year-end 2022, 1&1 had a total of only five 5G antenna sites, some provided by Vantage Towers.

Vantage Towers is controlled by Vodafone Group companies as the main shareholder with a stake of more than 81 percent. Moreover, Vodafone is planning and developing the shared use of Vantage Towers antenna sites by other network operators in Germany. In contrast to 1&1, Vodafone had 1,600 5G antenna sites based on Vantage Towers infrastructure at the end of 2022.

Vantage Towers presented a new rollout schedule at the end of 2022. Today, representatives from Vantage Towers and Vodafone held a joint meeting to finally inform 1&1 that there will be delays once again and that the new rollout plan will not be fulfilled either. In particular, the expansion targets planned for the first quarters of 2023 are expected to be missed by a wide margin. An end to Vodafone's preferential treatment of Vantage Towers' roll-out activities for Vodafone at the expense of 1&1's network roll-out thus still does not appear to be in sight.

At the same time, Vodafone is calling for the upcoming frequency allocation, which is currently being prepared by the Federal Network Agency, to dispense with the usual allocation procedure and, in particular, to leave the important low-band frequencies to the incumbent network operators Vodafone, Deutsche Telekom and Telefónica for further years without an auction. On the other hand, 1&1's need for low-band frequencies must definitely be questioned due to the fact that the 1&1 network is hardly built up. Vodafone fails to mention that the low level of expansion of the 1&1 network is largely due to the probable obstructions caused by Vodafone in the development of the antenna sites for Vantage Towers.

1&1 is doing everything possible to construct its new mobile network as quickly as possible. The renewed delay in the provision of antenna sites by Vantage Towers may have an impact on the launch of mobile services on the 1&1 network planned for Q3 2023, in particular because the technical certification processes required for this partly presuppose a certain minimum number of antenna sites. 1&1 is reviewing the schedule for the further network rollout. A possible slight delay in the launch of the network would not have any noteworthy financial impact.

About 1&1

1&1 AG is a listed telecommunications provider domiciled in Montabaur. The Company is a member of the United Internet AG corporate group. 1&1 offers its customers a comprehensive portfolio of mobile and broadband access. Moreover, other portfolio components are attractively bundled into mobile and fixed network products and added-value applications such as home networking, online storage, video on demand, smart home solutions or IPTV. While the 1&1 brand addresses value and premium segments, the Group’s discount brands appeal to price-conscious target groups.

Following the successful participation in the 5G frequency auction, 1&1 as the fourth German network operator will establish the first European-wide fully virtualized mobile network on the basis of the innovative OpenRAN technology.

Press Contact 1&1
Robin Schmidt
Email: [email protected]