Due to the 5G networks, more data than ever rush

Data consumption in the 5G mobile phone systems of O2 and Telekom has exceeded the billion gigabyte limit within one year. The telecommunications company O2 Telefónica announced that a amount of data of more than one billion gigabytes had been transported in Germany in the period October 2024 to September 2025 and thus more than ever. “5G has developed from a technological innovation to an integral part of everyday digital life in just five years”, said O2 boss Markus Haas.

Deutsche Telekom also reported that the billion-dollar brand in the 5G network had been cracked in the past twelve months. Vodafone came to 0.75 billion gigabytes in Germany in the period, which was more than twice an increase. A billion gigabyte is also called an exabyte. Converted to byte it is a one with 18 zeros (1,000,000,000,000,000,000), i.e. a trillion byte.

Why the data consumption goes up so steeply

The abbreviation 5G stands for 5th generation of mobile phone. The technology, which started in Germany in 2019, is the successor of 4G, also called LTE. 5G offers faster and more stable connections via the cell phone, the radio standard has been expanded in recent years and has now been reached in most areas.

More and more people use 5G-capable smartphones and have tariffs that also enable 5G and not just 4G. Higher data volumes tend to contain mobile phone tariffs without being associated with much higher costs. Often it is even the case that the volume increases and the price remains the same, which should increase customer loyalty.

Social media with ever larger amounts of data

The generous monthly volumes in turn mean that many mobile internet users are no longer on the move as data -saving as before, but naturally reaching the smartphone or tablet and streaming on the go, downloading data packages or making calls via the network.

“People stream mobile films and series and share their own experiences in the form of high-resolution stories and reels on social media platforms,” ​​says Tanja Richter the technology chief of Vodafone Germany. Above all, it is services such as Tikkok, Instagram and Snapchat that generated more and more data. “The mobile network has a lot to do.” In the digital age, there is also that smartwatches and networked vehicles also need data.