Although 5G is now available in most areas of Germany, the use of the fast and stable mobile communications standard is only increasing moderately. In a survey commissioned by the comparison portal Verivox in February 2024, 45.1 percent of respondents said they had already used 5G. In the same survey a year earlier it was 40.1 percent. During the same period, coverage increased significantly. Mobile operators are pushing ahead with their network expansion; 5G mobile phone connections are now available in well over 90 percent of Germany.
The current survey shows that interest in 5G is greater the younger the users are: According to the information, the 5G usage rate in the 18 to 29 age group was recently 58.7 percent and among those aged 70 and over it was only 27. 4 percent.
One reason for the rather small increase in demand is probably that older smartphones are not compatible. 5G network use will remain “far below its potential” in 2024, explained Verivox telecommunications expert Jörg Schamberg. “If you want to surf over 5G, you need a corresponding smartphone and a 5G-compatible tariff. Both components are often comparatively expensive.”
The three established network operators Deutsche Telekom, Telefónica (O2) and Vodafone have now automatically included 5G in the tariff for their core brands, but it often costs an extra charge for secondary brands such as Congstar and discounters.
However, the download speed is reduced for these separate 5G offers outside the core brands, with Congstar for example to 50 megabits per second (currently an additional charge of three euros per month). The speed limit undermines a key advantage of the radio standard – up to 1000 megabits per second are technically possible. However, this is less realistic because the speed depends on various factors, including the number of users in a radio cell. Vodafone, for example, advertises a transmission speed of up to 300 megabits per second.
However, another advantage comes into play
The information highway to which the customer has access will be larger due to the inclusion of 5G with additional lanes, which means that downloads are easily possible even when there is high demand on the internet – for example when there are crowds of people.
The survey by the market research company Innofact on behalf of Verivox was carried out online in February and said 1,028 people aged 18 to 79 were surveyed. The question was: “Have you used this 5G network before?” According to the information, the survey was representative of the population in terms of age, gender and federal state affiliation.
The survey shows that many cell phone users continue to rely on the previous standard, 4G. At the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, O2 Telefónica boss Markus Haas recently reported that demand for the new standard was gradually increasing. “This year, 5G traffic will overtake 4G traffic,” said the telecommunications manager. “This year 5G will become a mass market.”