Germany's new telecom law risks slowing fiber expansion despite ambitious goals
At the opening of Fiberdays 26 last Wednesday, Stephan Albers, managing director of the organizing Federal Association of Broadband Communication (BREKO), presented a Civey survey showing that 69 percent of 500 small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) view the liberalization of the telecommunications market in the 1990s as positive. Among consumers, the figure stands at 65 percent. "Both consumers and Germany's Mittelstand want competition," said BREKO President Norbert Westfal. Albers emphasized that the industry needs investment incentives even in economically challenging times. Hessian Digital Minister Kristina Sinemus, the event's patron, echoed this sentiment. "We must create competitiveness for Europe so that Germany—and Hesse—can continue to develop," Sinemus said at Fiberdays 26 in Frankfurt am Main. She aims to accelerate fiber-optic expansion "through external pressure."
That pressure is coming in the form of new regulations under the draft Telecommunications Act (TKG). Competitors of Deutsche Telekom are particularly critical of two provisions: the right to full fiber deployment (§ 144 TKG draft) and the obligation to grant third-party access to fiber networks (§ 22 TKG draft). If companies fail to reach an agreement, the Federal Network Agency (BNetzA) can set the rules for co-use and, crucially, pricing. "Section 22 is worse than we ever feared," said Claus Wedemeyer, head of digitization and demographics at GdW, the German Federation of Housing and Real Estate Companies. He warned that BNetzA could impose fees disconnected from reality, benefiting only dominant market players. "This only advantages companies with market power," Wedemeyer criticized at Fiberdays 26, fearing that these rules will dampen SMEs' willingness to invest further in fiber expansion.
The right to full deployment has also drawn criticism. Under the draft, a network operator can fully equip a building with fiber if they have already laid the infrastructure up to the property line. However, property owners can block this if, within two months of being notified, they begin their own fiber installation. Yet even this safeguard could create problems—such as when an owner already has an expansion plan with a provider. Critics argue that no housing company could finalize a fiber rollout plan within two months. Additionally, the draft requires such projects to be completed within two years. Companies that have already agreed on a multi-year fiber expansion plan—spanning four or five years—would have to compress their timelines to a maximum of two years. "We'll achieve the exact opposite: less expansion and investors pulling out," warned Stefan Rueter, COO of network operator OXG.
Timo von Lepel, CEO of NetCologne, stressed that without digital infrastructure, there can be neither competition nor growth. The industry now hopes the Federal Ministry for Digital and Transport (BMDS) will revise the draft. According to Philipp Grün, a telecommunications law expert at BMDS, a new version for cabinet approval is expected in May.
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