Areas with minimal or no Wi-Fi connectivity - Website Launched for Mobile Phone Mast Positions
The newly launched website, Hessen, aims to make it easier to find suitable locations for mobile phone masts. This is to eliminate "dead zones." Digital Minister Kristina Sinemus (CDU) said during a recent announcement, "We've been working hard to speed up mobile network construction, but we still have a ways to go." On the site standorterfassungstool-hessen.ingrada.de, "communities, districts, citizens, businesses, and companies can potentially submit potential properties."
As mobile network construction continues to progress, finding suitable land for setting up masts becomes more challenging in some areas for operators. Michael Jungwirth from Vodafone Germany's management explained, "Despite the fact that we've recently built many new sites and increased capacity for more coverage, the search for sites for mobile phone masts in municipalities is significantly hindering our expansion efforts." The operators need assistance, and every potential site considered can improve mobile phone coverage.
Digital Minister Sinemus mentioned the Future Pact Mobile, signed by the Hessian state government with the three major network operators Deutsche Telekom, Vodafone, and Telefónica (O2) in January 2022: "Over 4000 new or modernized mobile phone masts have been built or modernized in the last two years, significantly improving mobile phone coverage. We've achieved this at a pace of around five new constructions or modernizations per day." More than 98% of all households in Hessen are now covered by the 5G standard.
Regarding the entire land area, there are other dynamics. As reported by the Federal Network Agency, the 5G coverage in Hessen in April 2024 accounted for 86.77% of the state. Hessen ranks last in a nationwide comparison, with the German average for April 2024 being 91.99%.
The Hessian Digital Ministry noted the particularly high forest cover and the Middle Mountains in the federal state: "A 100% coverage area with mobile phone networks is not possible, as a mast would have to be erected in every valley or hollow." In flatter regions like Schleswig-Holstein or city-states like Berlin and Hamburg, expanding the mobile network is a more straightforward process.
The location tool for mobile network coverage in Germany is mobile phone mast location tool.
