Warning for GVG Glasfaser: Renewed dispute over contract duration

Renewed legal dispute over contract durations for fiber optic connections: The consumer advice center in Lower Saxony has warned the regional network operator GVG Glasfaser for an allegedly inadmissible clause in its general terms and conditions. The Kiel-based company rejects the accusations and intends to contest the warning.

According to the contract clauses of the GVG brand "nordischnet", the minimum contract duration is said to begin not upon conclusion of the contract, but upon activation of the connection. This does not comply with the current legal situation, emphasizes the consumer advice center, referring to a decision by the Federal Court of Justice (BGH).

BGH: Duration begins with conclusion

In January, the BGH clarified in proceedings initiated by the consumer advice center NRW against the network operator Deutsche Giganetz that the contract duration for a fiber optic connection begins with the conclusion of the contract.

The legislator created the rules for contract durations with the latest amendment to the Telecommunications Act (TKG) to prevent providers from chaining their customers with their general terms and conditions. Contracts with an initial term of two years must not be automatically extended for a long period; they must be terminable on a monthly basis thereafter.

This is a problem for providers in the growing fiber optic market. It is common for network operators to only begin expanding in a connection area once enough households have opted for a fiber optic connection. After that, it can take months for the connections to be built and activated.

However, the obligation to pay for customers only begins when the connection is actually activated. This significantly shortens the portion of the contract duration for which the customer also pays, and the network operator's calculations no longer add up. Therefore, numerous providers have switched to regulating the start of the contract duration in their GTC.

This is also the case with Kiel-based GVG. With one significant difference that is likely to play a role in this case: "In the general terms and conditions of GVG Glasfaser GmbH, the start of the duration is impermissibly linked to the first provision of services or activation," states the VZ Niedersachsen. "This is a serious disadvantage for customers."

GVG grants right of termination

The minimum contract duration begins "upon provision of service," it states in the GTC of "nordischnet." A few sentences later, it says that the customer is simultaneously "entitled to terminate the contract at any time without observing a notice period until the start of the minimum contract duration." In short: the customer can withdraw from the contract at any time before the connection is activated.

"Through this special right of termination, which is rarely exercised in practice, customers of our brands nordischnet and teranet benefit from full flexibility at any time before the start of the minimum contract duration," emphasizes a spokesperson upon request. "We do not bind our customers to their contract for longer than the legally permissible 24 months."

In this context, the company refers to another decision by the Federal Court of Justice (Case No. III ZR 61/24), which the judges also mention in their January ruling. It states that a binding duration does not exist if and as long as the customer has the option to terminate the contract.

GVG therefore considers itself to be in the right: According to this interpretation, the later start of the contract duration is not a disadvantage for the customer, as claimed by the consumer advice center. "We will examine legal steps against the warning from the consumer advice center in Lower Saxony and reject it on its merits," announces the GVG spokesperson. A clarification in court is therefore to be expected.

(vbr)