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Germany’s government is investing heavily in the telecoms sector under a new telecoms law, a move that appears to go against the grain of industry stakeholders and the government’s decision to tighten the purse strings.
back take over The German government on Wednesday proposed a new telecommunications law that would more than triple the national budget for high-speed network deployment, following the European Commission’s approval on Tuesday (July 23). Voiceover “Giga Offensive”.
The government budget for upgrading Germany’s telecom network has tripled from 12 billion euros to 38 billion euros, a figure that is particularly noteworthy given the country’s current economic Slow recovery after recessionwhich led the government cut the expenses.
The bleak economic outlook has led to calls for Germany to reform its manufacturing-based economy, which includes European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde.
The European Commission considers fiber optic network deployment to be key to achieving digital economic transformation, but Germany ranks last among all EU countries in terms of fiber optic network deployment. The EU has set a goal of connecting 100% of buildings with fiber optic networks by 2030.
Fibre-to-the-premises (FTTP) coverage – where fibre optic cables are laid to homes, but not necessarily to the so-called “last mile” (each apartment) – will be below 30% in 2024, compared to an EU average of 64%. explain The Commission’s Digital Decade report was published in July.
Committee extend The timetable for German state aid to deploy the high-speed network is from the end of 2025 to the end of 2028.
Competition issues
But using money to solve the problem could have an adverse effect on competition, and stakeholders in Germany’s telecom industry are already concerned about budget increases.
Industry association VATM, which includes most telecoms companies except Deutsche Telekom, and fiber optic companies association BREKO are concerned that this will have a negative impact on competition. German media reports.
They worry that such a huge amount of public funds will disrupt their business plans, delay network deployment due to lengthy public procedures, and increase deployment costs.
The German government failed to include in its proposed law provisions a provision to ensure that Deutsche Telekom could transition from copper to fiber networks in a competitive manner. warn Stephan Albers, Managing Director of BREKO.
So-called “copper switch-off” refers to the gradual transition of telecom infrastructure from analog copper phone lines to high-speed fiber-optic networks. All EU countries are going through this process at varying speeds, but the market dominance of former state-owned Deutsche Telekom has created particular problems in Germany.
Users are often reluctant to switch internet providers when they move from older copper networks (often owned by incumbent operators) to fibre networks because of the extra costs. Regulators could ensure that copper decommissioning and fibre activation are both free to promote competition.
The commission’s approval of Deutsche Telekom’s move is one of the reasons why Germany’s fiber deployment is lagging behind. explain The European Competitive Telecommunications Association (ECTA) said in a document sent to the Commission in June.
The German telecom market “remains a market where the existing copper network is the main infrastructure,” ECTA wrote.
under EU LawFurthermore, 40-year-old legacy infrastructure, such as Deutsche Telekom’s, must be opened up to competition.
The European Commission informed Germany’s telecom regulator (BNetzA) on July 15 that Deutsche Telekom’s pricing practices for access to its network “have a negative impact on competition,” according to a document seen by Euractiv.
Germany Telecom Target By 2030, fiber optic networks will cover more than 50% of German households.
A non-binding bill
Germany’s new telecommunications law aims to speed up the deployment of high-speed telecommunications networks by speeding up procedures and reducing red tape.
The German government wants the regulation to become the cornerstone of Germany’s Gigabit Strategy, which sets two main goals: to connect more than 50% of German households to FTTP by 2025 and to achieve a goal of 100% FTTP connections in the EU by 2030.
“By passing (the law), we’re going to get some small improvements.” explain Frederic Ufer, General Manager of VATM.
Ufer welcomed the shortening of approval processes, the reduction of bureaucracy, the reduction of administrative procedures and the concept of a “one-stop shop”, which were discussed by member states at the meeting. EU Gigabit Infrastructure Directiveaimed at accelerating the rollout of fiber optic and 5G across the EU.
An important provision of German law is that network construction is defined as “overriding public interest” in all approval procedures.
But this “overriding public interest” only applies to telecoms masts, not fibre deployment in nature reserves.
That’s one reason why the German government “has failed to address the regulatory issues surrounding the transition from copper to fiber networks,” said BREKO’s Albers. explain Wednesday.
(Edited by Zoran Radosavljevic)
Read more by Euractiv
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