Telefonica Deutschland has agreed to lease spectrum to 1&1 Drillisch to help the latter set up its own 5G network. 1&1 will lease 2x10 MHz in the 2.6 GHz band from Telefonica until the end of 2025, when its own frequencies in the 2GHz band won in the auction earlier this year will be available for use.
The deal is part of Telefonica's regulatory commitments made when it acquired E-Plus in 2014. The company already supplies network capacity to 1&1 as a MVNO. It said the spectrum lease is a conditional requirement for 1&1 Drillisch to be able to convert its current capacity-based MVNO contract for the use of the Telefonica Deutschland network into a capacity-based agreement for national roaming.
The lease will have no impact on Telefonica's own network build-out, as it still holds over 300 MHz of spectrum.
The spectrum lease remains subject to approval by the Federal Network Agency, but has already been discussed with the regulator and European Commission, Telefonica said. No financial details of the contract were disclosed.
At the German auction in June, 1&1 acquired a total of two frequency blocks of 10 MHz in the 2 GHz band and five blocks of 10 MHz in the 3.6 GHz band. While the 3.6 GHz spectrum is already available, the frequencies in the 2 GHz band will not be operational until 1 January 2026.
