Fiber optics, mobile communications, SMS: The situation in Germany

Surprise: In 2021 more SMS were sent again. The reason. Also: there are so many fiber optic connections, so long is the time for mobile and landline calls and so much surfing – the annual report of the Federal Network Agency.

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Fiber optics, mobile communications, SMS: The situation in Germany
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In its annual report, the Federal Network Agency gives an overview of the situation in telecommunications in Germany. For example, the expansion of the fixed network is focused on fiber optic expansion and upgrading the cable networks to gigabit data transmission rates.
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At the end of 2021 there were around 2.6 million active fiber optic connections. Around 1.7 million of these connections are FTTH (Fiber to the Home), i.e. the fiber optic cable reaches into the home. At around 0.9 million, the fiber optic cable only extends as far as the building, which is referred to as FTTB (Fiber to the Building). FTTH/FTTB connections accounted for 7.1 percent of all active broadband connections by the end of 2021.
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So much is spoken
In 2021, around 102 billion call minutes (compared to 2020: 104 billion) were made via fixed networks. In 2021, around 163 billion outgoing call minutes were made via the mobile networks in Germany. This corresponds to 127 call minutes per month per SIM card. The volume of calls in mobile communications now significantly exceeds the volume processed via the fixed network.
More data volume in the fixed network and mobile network
By the end of 2021, an estimated 100 billion gigabytes of data would have passed through landline networks. Converted to the individual broadband customers in fixed networks, this corresponded to an average data consumption of 226 gigabytes per month.
At the end of 2021, 5.457 million gigabytes of data went through the mobile networks. The majority (95 percent) of the data traffic was realized via LTE. In 2021, the average data volume used per active SIM card and month increased by around 39 percent to 4.3 gigabytes compared to the previous year.
Increased use of SMS
7.8 billion SMS were sent in Germany in 2021. That was 0.8 billion more than in 2020. The Federal Network Agency suspects that two-factor authentication could be a reason for the increased volume of SMS. However, these 7.8 billion are far below the SMS record in 2012 with 59.8 billion short messages sent
You can find the 2021 annual report on the Bundesnetzagentur’s website here.
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