The network is available in eight districts of Bratislava
Slovak Telekom became the country’s first operator to launch commercial 5G services, available in eight districts of Bratislava. ST announced that customers can expect download speeds of between 300 Mbps and 600 Mbps, and between 60 Mbps and 80 Mbps for upload. The operator is utilizing 15 MHz of frequencies in the 2100 MHz band, in combination with LTE spectrum.
Rival operators O2 and 4ka have launched small-scale 5G pilot networks in Bratislava and Banska Bystrica, respectively. Orange communicated its intentions to launch 5G services in the capital in April 2021.
At the end of November, Slovakian regulator RÚ announced it sold 700MHz spectrum and additional frequencies in the 900MHz and 1800MHz bands. The sale raised 100.23 million EUR. Orange won 2×10MHz in the 700MHz range and paid 33.63 million EUR. O2 got 2×10MHz at 700MHz, 2×4.2MHz at 900MHz and 2×3MHz in the 1800MHz range for 33.39 million EUR. Slovak Telekom acquired a 2×10MHz licence in the 700MHz band and 2×3MHz at 1800MHz, spending 32.66 million EUR.
The 700 MHz licenses were granted with strict coverage obligations. 95% of the population of every county town should be covered by year-end 2025, 90% of the population outside county towns should enjoy 5G services by 2027, and 70% of inhabitants should have 5G by year-end 2027.
