Fiber optic expansion: More competition, but not less regulation
Cologne's Anga Com broadband fair opens, the telecom industry demands increased competition while insisting Deutsche Telekom remain under regulatory oversight.
At the start of the Anga Com broadband trade fair, industry representatives discussed the challenges of fiber optic expansion.
(Image: heise online/Marc Hankmann)
The demand for broadband is increasing. "The data volume in the fixed network is growing by 25 to 30 percent per year," said Andreas Pfisterer, CEO of Deutsche Glasfaser, on Tuesday at the Gigabit Summit at the start of the Anga Com broadband trade fair in Cologne. Daniela Brönstrup, Vice President of the German Federal Network Agency (BNetzA), added that 12 percent of households now request bandwidths of over 300 Mbit/s. "This is no longer possible with DSL.
This can no longer be achieved with DSL. However, only 5.3 million households currently use a fiber optic connection. So there is still a lot of network expansion ahead of the telecommunications companies. Although market conditions have deteriorated in recent years, primarily due to inflation, economic recession, rising interest rates and construction costs, the companies involved in the expansion are positive about the future.
The capital is available
"Overall, there is still a lot of capital in the market," said Pfisterer. Now it is also up to the state to accelerate the expansion of fiber optics. A major obstacle to the expansion of fiber optics is the uncertainty as to how the switch from DSL to fiber optics should take place. The alternative network operators fear that Telekom will only switch off its DSL networks in areas where it is building fiber optic networks itself, but will allow its DSL networks to run in regions where it does not have fiber optics, to the detriment of its competitors.
"We need Telekom, but we also need a dialog with Telekom," said Timo von Lepel at the Gigabit Summit. The Managing Director of NetCologne is also Vice President of the broadband association Anga. At the summit event, von Lepel regretted that Telekom had not accepted the invitation to Anga Com.
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Fear of re-monopolization
Marcel de Groot, CEO of Vodafone Germany, also attaches great importance to the copper-glass migration for the success of the fiber optic expansion, although he emphasizes that the aim is to shut down the DSL networks, not the cable networks. But: "We need more competition in the broadband market," said de Groot. He fears that this market will re-monopolize in favour of Telekom if the state does not intervene. "Investments by alternative competitors have been declining since 2022," added NetCologne CEO von Lepel. This is also due to the lack of a roadmap for the copper-glass migration.
The new Federal Digital Ministry is therefore in demand. "The law needs to be changed," demanded Pfisterer, as the views of Telekom and the alternative fiber optic network operators are too different. In the opinion of the Telekom competitors, what is not needed is de-regulation, as demanded by the EU in particular. However, BNetzA Vice Chairwoman Brönstrup sees no reason for this either. "We will continue to need ex-ante regulation, a kind of referee," she said.
Old technology will be switched off at some point
What is certain is that no one will be forced to switch off, as was recently reported in the tabloid press. According to Pfisterer, there will be long transition phases until the majority of households have switched from DSL to fiber optics and the old copper networks can be switched off. "And good customer communication is part of this," added Pfisterer at the Gigabit Summit. However, the participants in the discussion in Cologne were certain that the DSL networks would be switched off at some point. "After all, there are no more telephones with dials," said von Lepel.
(wpl)
