Safety in the Alps: Vodafone expands network coverage to mountainous region

Vodafone connects customers across the Alps. New and improved mobile phone stations include 5G, new emergency call technology and a disaster warning system.

If climbing the Alps is on your bucket list, you’ll be pleased to hear that we’ve expanded our mobile network to cover 99.7 percent of the populated areas in the Alpine region.

Eliminating 22 dead spots, customers in Oberallgäu, Ostallgäu, Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Bad Tölz-Wolfratshausen, Miesbach, Rosenheim, Traunstein and Berchtesgadener Land are all now connected to our mobile network.

Building 78 new 5G stations and upgrading existing sites with 5G technology, we now operate a total of 416 mobile phone stations in the region.

Helping explorers stay safe

What’s more, we’ve now installed AML (Advanced Mobile Location) emergency call technology in all 416 mobile phone stations.

This means that in the event of an emergency call to '112', the exact location of a caller is automatically transmitted to the rescue coordination centre via AML, so rescue teams can get to the scene of an accident as quickly as possible to assist.

In the past, it was often impossible to make emergency calls from up in the mountains, nor could you look up weather conditions, plan routes or use hiking maps via your mobile phone. Which is why we started working with the German Alpine Club 30 years ago, to expand our network coverage putting the first operational mobile radio station in the Alps in June 1992.

In addition, the new Cell Broadcast disaster warning system is now in operation in all 416 mobile radio stations, able to warn the local population of natural disasters quickly via text message.

Warnings include storms, fires, earthquakes, possible avalanche dangers or floods, whether they have already happened or are likely to so that explorers can stay safe.

A hike in demand

As well as creating a safer environment for hikers, cyclists and holiday makers, we’re also delivering better connectivity for Alpine communities.

Mobile data traffic in this region is growing rapidly with an annual growth rate of more than 35 percent. With our expansion, customers in the area will be able to surf the internet more on their phones, staying connected to loved ones and friends.

The expansion of mobile communications in the Alps will continue with 15 more mobile data highways being built by the end of 2023.