Telecoms push politicians for faster network policy action

Contents

The telecommunications industry (TC) is making it unmistakably clear to the new federal government and the digital ministers of the federal states currently meeting that time is of the essence. "Fast and reliable networks are the basis for the digitalization of society, the economy and administration – and Germany's international competitiveness," says Sven Knapp, Head of the Capital Office of the German Broadband Association (Breko).

Frederic Ufer, Managing Director of the Association of Telecommunications and Value-Added Service Providers (VATM), calls for Germany's digitization to pick up speed now. "Many of the necessary measures that cannot be postponed any longer are on the agenda of the Digital Ministers' Conference", says Ufer.

First and foremost is the Telecommunications Network Expansion Acceleration Act (TK-NABEG), which is still in the legislative process. Here, the status of overriding public interest is to be established for fiber optic expansion, which many telecommunications companies hope will speed up approval procedures. "In order to obtain an expansion permit for a municipality, we are in contact with up to 20 authorities beforehand – and mainly in analog form," says Andrea Weißenfels, Federal Policy Manager at Deutsche Glasfaser Unternehmensgruppe, describing the situation.

Less bureaucracy, faster procedures

To speed up and simplify procedures, telecommunications companies need to work more closely with cities, districts and local authorities. "Deutsche GigaNetz is therefore part of a newly founded municipal council with other providers and umbrella organizations to address politicians and ministries with joint positions," explains a spokesperson for the network operator.

This exchange will also serve to introduce the newly created DIN 18220 standard to local authorities. The standard defines so-called alternative installation methods for fiber optic cables, but these are far from being welcomed by every building authority. Instead, traditional civil engineering is still used in many places to lay fiber optic cables, which takes time and costs a lot of money.

This is why Thorsten Fellmann, Managing Director of GVG Glasfaser, for example, is calling for quasi-automatic approval for alternative installation methods if they comply with the new DIN 18220 standard. "We also need a maximum time limit for processing applications," he says.

Federal Network Agency should take action against strategic double expansion

In addition, the telecommunications industry believes that the expansion of fiber optics could be accelerated if the strategic double expansion of fiber optic networks were reduced – i.e. the overbuilding of a competitor's network to weaken it. Since July 2023, the monitoring office of the Federal Network Agency (BNetzA) has been collecting reports from telecommunications companies on strategic duplication.

A year ago, the BNetzA published an interim report from the Monitoring Body. Since then, it has continued to collect data. "According to Section 50 of the Telecommunications Act, we believe that the monitoring body should have opened abuse proceedings a long time ago," says Deutsche Glasfaser manager Weißenfels. "We consider the fact that the coalition agreement only provides for it to continue collecting data without carrying out the statutory abuse check to be inadequate."

Knapp also criticizes the BNetzA's approach: "Sitting out is not an option," says the head of the Breko capital office. "We finally need a solution – if nothing else is feasible, through a legal regulation." Because what the expansion companies urgently need is planning security.

Planning security for fair competition

This is why both Breko and VATM are calling for a roadmap for the transition from copper to fiber optic networks. "In particular, it must be clarified how the infrastructure upgrade will take place in areas where a competitor of Telekom has built the fiber optic network," explains Knapp. The federal and state governments should quickly agree on a change to the law that guarantees fair competition and promotes investment in the networks.

As much as the telecommunications industry would welcome an active federal government and a conference of digital ministers, it is also calling for restraint when it comes to broadband funding. GVG Managing Director Fellmann, for example, favors a funding framework with a sense of proportion. He does not want "flooding" with subsidies, "so as not to displace the self-economic fiber optic expansion on the one hand and, on the other hand, not to drive up the civil engineering costs – here in the special sub-area of underground cable construction –."

(mma)