The data consumption in German mobile networks has risen sharply this year as well. Vodafone announced on Wednesday that its own network had transported more than 1.4 billion gigabytes of data, around 27 percent more than in 2020. That was a slightly weaker increase than in the previous year (around 29 percent). According to its own information, competitor Telefónica even recorded an increase of around 50 percent to more than two billion gigabytes that were transmitted via the O2 cellular network. According to a statement, Telekom was 13 percent above the previous year's level with around 1.8 billion gigabytes.

The increase in the volume in the networks is due, among other things, to the fact that consumers are using more data-intensive applications.

In addition, according to Vodafone Germany boss Hannes Ametsreiter, it plays a role that mobile phone streaming has become more natural on the go.

The network expansion is also a reason for the strong increase in data: Because the telecommunications companies have installed new antennas, more people get a better network - they use this option and pull more data than before on their smartphones and tablets.

Even stronger growth in rural areas

For large cities, Vodafone determined an increase of 22 percent, in rural regions it was 30 percent.

The explanation for this: The mobile network coverage in rural areas is better than it used to be, and there are fewer dead spots.

Therefore, people use their cell phones more intensively for data transfer.

If you look at the federal states, Vodafone grew the most in the Rhineland-Palatinate state with 36 percent and the weakest in the city-state of Hamburg with 15 percent.

All three German network operators have significantly expanded their mobile network in the past year.

Vodafone registered a data increase of 14 percent to 41.5 billion gigabytes in the fixed-line Internet.

This was due, among other things, to the widespread home office including video conferencing.

Another reason, according to the company, was that people were less on the move in their free time and preferred to stream films at home instead of going to the cinema or the pub.