Deutsche Telekom Launches 5G Network in Poland With Huawei Equipment

T-Mobile Poland claims to be the first off the 5G starting block in its domestic market, announcing the launch of what it described as the “first fully functional” 5G network in the Eastern European country with the support of Huawei Technologies. The Deutsche Telekom subsidiary said the network is currently available in the center of Warsaw, although plans are afoot to extend coverage gradually throughout the entire country depending on the spectrum licensing plans of the Polish regulatory authorities. T-Mobile Poland said it has distributed the first devices that enable access to the 5G network to select business customers and partners. And it will also showcase applications to visitors at what it has dubbed the #5G_Lab. At launch, the network comprises four base stations based on the 5G New Radio (5G NR) standard, using 100MHz of 3.5GHz spectrum and equipped with 10 Gb/s fiber optic backhaul links. Deutsche Telekom commented that the set-up in Warsaw is similar to that of its 5G test network in Berlin. Worth noting here is that Orange Poland has also just announced testing of what it proclaimed to be the first commercial 5G base station in the country. T-Mobile Poland confirmed that Huawei is the sole vendor supporting the 5G network. Indeed, the China-based vendor is a long-serving network partner of Deutsche Telekom, and the two companies have been collaborating on 5G-network research since 2015.