Ireland now has better 5G coverage than Deutsche Telekom plans for the end of 2021. Putting 5G on existing towers can be done quickly, especially where 4G upgrades are needed. Mid-band 5G has decent reach, similar to 1800 MHz.

At least 60% and often 80% coverage can be reached from existing towers. The Europeans do not expect to deploy many small cells for years. The Chinese don't need new cells for coverage, but have ambitious plans for indoor coverage, perhaps as many as 10 million small cells. That would be enough to put multiple cells inside every office building.

Xavier Niel became a billionaire by giving customers more for their money. The industry thought he would go broke when he offered the 30 Euro triple play but he had carefully calculated marginal costs. Most made a similar mistake when he introduced mobile for 20 euros several years ago. He made that work.

Eir also announced gigabit fiber to 50,000 homes and plans to fiber 84% of Ireland. 38% of Irish live in rural areas, nearly twice as many as England. Rural costs are high but Eir's reaching many in rural areas without any subsidy.

I guess the engineers at BT should go to Dublin for an education.

Here's the pr https://www.eir.ie/pressroom/eirs-gigabit-fibre-network-available-in-28-towns-nationwide/ eir also announced that its 5G network, by far the largest of any operator, has now expanded to 20 cities and towns across the country, covering more than 25% of the population of Ireland out of doors. 5G is also available from eir at Dublin Airport. 5G is enabling eir customers to enjoy unrivalled speed and reliability, with peak speeds over 1Gbps. This is part of the €150 million investment plan to transform eir’s mobile network. eir will continue to invest heavily throughout 2020, with plans to roll out 5G to every major town in Ireland. eir CEO Carolan Lennon said: "I am delighted to announce that eir’s Gigabit Fibre Network is now available in 28 towns nationwide, with 50,000 premises already enjoying access to superfast broadband and more being added each week. Ultimately our €500 million investment programme will stretch to 1.4 million homes and businesses. Once completed, our fibre network will cover 84% of the premises in Ireland." Lennon continued, "eir is by far the largest investor in telecoms in Ireland and the IFN is a key part of our €1 billion capital investment programme to build the very best network for our customers. eir is also transforming its mobile network and our expanding 5G rollout will complement on-going upgrade and expansion of our 4G network."