DACH

Switzerland 

Sunrise has the highest proportion of 4G data usage of any operator in this report, with an average of 90.2% of data usage running over a 4G connection. Salt was in third place among the Swiss operators, with an average of 88.8%.

Looking at the spectrum utilization goes some way to explaining how Swisscom manages to deploy a network with the highest average download speeds. It uses low, mid, and high-band spectrum in the most balanced way: 1800 MHz carries the greatest proportion of Swisscom’s traffic, but even that band only accounts for 38.9% of total data transmission. Both other operators rely more heavily on 1800 MHz, with the frequency accounting for 56.1% and 65.3% of Sunrise and Salt’s data transmission respectively.

The future continues to be bright for Switzerland’s mobile spectrum use. A 5G spectrum auction recently finished, with the three operators paying a combined US$379 million for spectrum in the 700 MHz, 1400 MHz, 2.6 GHz and 3.5 GHz range. Swisscom’s position at the top of the pack looks solidified, as the operator snapped up 46% of the spectrum on offer.

The US$379 million paid by the operators is relatively modest compared to the sums demanded for spectrum licenses in other European auctions, which should leave the operators with more resources to spend deploying the spectrum.

Austria 

T-Mobile has the best 4G utilization of the Austrian operators, with an average of 87.4% of smartphone data usage going over 4G. 3 is 3.7% behind, on 83.7%, while A1 is 9% behind T-Mobile’s 4G usage with an average of 78.4% of data usage running over its 4G network.

However, the overall network data use rate is likely to be skewed more heavily towards 4G. Tutela’s methodology only tests mobile connections that are made directly from a smartphone to the cellular network; since all three operators have a significant number of customers using their mobile network for fixed home broadband (which uses the 4G network), the data utilization is likely to be more heavily skewed towards 4G.

The proportion of data used by band varies significantly between operators. 3, which only has a total of 10 MHz available in the low-band 900 MHz range, uses a combination of 1800, 2100, and 2600 MHz for the majority of its data traffic. A1, which owns 40 MHz of low-band 800 MHz spectrum, uses that for 65% of its mobile network traffic, and uses 1800 MHz and 2600 MHz for the rest. T-Mobile has half the amount of 800 MHz spectrum available as A1, so uses the 1800 MHz spectrum for the bulk of its traffic.

All three operators have bought at least 100 MHz of spectrum in the 3.5 GHz or 3.7 GHz bands, which will be used for 5G. T-Mobile has already activated 25 base stations on the 5G spectrum it obtained; given Austria’s high penetration of fixed wireless access and the sub-6GHz spectrum the operators have bought, 5G will likely emerge as a fixed wireless technology first, with mobile devices to follow.

Germany 

German operators have the lowest penetration of 4G networks in the region; Telekom, which has the greatest proportion of its data usage on 4G, saw just 70.4% of data usage over its 4G network, a result that would put it last in either Switzerland or Austria. O2 was behind Telekom, with an average 66.3% of data usage over 4G, while Vodafone was in last place, with just 64.7% of data usage occurring over a 4G network.

Although German operators own licenses for hundreds of MHz of spectrum ranging from low to high bands, only four bands are widely used for 4G: 800 MHz, 1800 MHz, 2100 MHz, and 2600 MHz. Of those, the high-band 2100 and 2600 MHz spectrum is primarily deployed in urban areas, and 800 MHz -- where all three operators own 20 MHz of spectrum each -- is used for the bulk of the national coverage.

The adoption of 700 MHz for LTE may go some way to boosting 4G proliferation in the country. Telekom recently applied to the regulator to start LTE service on its 700 MHz spectrum this year, and other operators may follow suit.

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Coverage for Germany, Austria & Switzerland >