As of: January 29, 2024, 5:09 a.m
By: Sok Eng Lim, Kai Bräunig
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First the video call jerks, then it stops completely: dead spots continue to cause trouble.
Our map shows where there are particularly many gaps.
Berlin – Watching the football game on your cell phone or avoiding traffic jams with the map app: For many, this is part of everyday life.
But connection problems threaten around a fifth of Germany's area.
Not every network operator there offers fast internet, i.e. fourth or fifth generation mobile communications – 4G or 5G for short.
This is shown by current data from the Federal Network Agency.
We examined all regions of Germany and translated the results into a map: the darker the area, the worse the network.
Rural regions in particular are waiting for an end to the patchwork quilt when it comes to mobile surfing.
Less populated areas tend to have larger gaps in our analysis.
The countryside is where most of the so-called “white spots” are found.
These places are not provided with fast internet by any of the mobile phone giants.
Why is that?
For example, not all property owners are willing to lease their land.
A representative from O2 told IPPEN.MEDIA.
Another reason for the missing antennas is environmental protection.
In fact, discussions about transmission towers in untouched nature sometimes drag on for years.
Analogue advertising for digital progress: When looking for locations for its radio masts, Telekom relies on poster advertising.
© Deutsche Telekom
Telekom's press spokeswoman also points out the lack of permits in clear terms: “The example from Gentingen in Rhineland-Palatinate shows how absurd it often is with the white spots.
The community feels very comfortable as a blank spot and doesn't want a cell phone mast.” Telekom originally received the order from the Federal Network Agency to build a radio tower there.
The authority says it is currently examining which dead spots the network operators are actually responsible for.
Lots of forest, lots of gaps
But extreme geographical conditions such as mountains also prevented the construction of new transmission systems, according to a representative of the Federal Network Agency.
This is particularly critical in Berchtesgadener Land: out of every 100 square meters in the Bavarian district, an average of seven are without any cell phone signal.
You can't even make an emergency call there.
This recently proved fatal for a mountaineer from Bavaria.
Mobile communications are not completely lost everywhere in the German hiking areas.
But using a route app can be a test of patience.
The four federal states with the highest density of forests are also the ones with the worst network for mobile surfing.
Baden-Württemberg, which comes last, is followed by Hesse, Rhineland-Palatinate and Bavaria.
But Germans also expect reasonable internet access in excursion regions.
No other country in Europe is so dissatisfied with its mobile network.
This was the result of a study by the technology consultancy BearingPoint last year.
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Competition for Telekom, Vodafone and O2
There has now been movement in the mobile communications market: at the end of 2023, 1&1 was launched as the fourth network operator.
However, a large-scale antenna network must first be set up.
1&1 customers' cell phones currently still predominantly connect to competitors' networks.
Experts expect cheaper prices for mobile surfing as a result of the busy business.
But if you're in a dead zone, you first need a usable internet connection.
Our data, sources, methods
We evaluated the Federal Network Agency's current mobile communications monitoring as of October 2023 for all 400 districts and cities as well as the 16 federal states.
The information from the Federal Network Agency is based on data from mobile network operators.
Using the information on 2G, 4G and 5G, we calculated the area for each region in which one or more network operators do not enable mobile surfing with sufficient data rates.
The calculation of the areas of the territorial units and forest areas was carried out using the size information from the Federal Statistical Office as of 2022.