Digital fiber optic breakfast NRW: Less bureaucracy for fast networks

Politicians and network operators at one table for fiber optic expansion in NRW
The recent increase in the fiber optic rate to 13.5% communicated as part of the BREKO market analysis20 is a very positive signal for fiber optic expansion in Germany. However, the figure also shows that further efforts and improvements are required in order to achieve the political goals for the provision of modern fiber optic infrastructure to buildings and homes. In order for this to succeed, suitable measures must also be taken at state level. In order to accelerate the expansion of fiber optics in North Rhine-Westphalia, the industry association BREKO (Bundesverband Breitbandkommunikation e. V.) today brought together important political players and those involved in the expansion of fiber optics at a virtual parliamentary fiber optics breakfast in North Rhine-Westphalia.
The managing directors of Deutsche Glasfaser from Borken, 1&1 Versatel from Düsseldorf, DOKOM21 from Dortmund and Westenergie Breitband from Essen took part in the parliamentary fiber optic breakfast today on behalf of the many BREKO companies expanding fiber optics in NRW. “The 40 BREKO companies active in NRW are already responsible for a large part of the fiber optic expansion. As the leading fiber optic association, it is therefore important for us to use our strong voice in dialogue with the key political players. The demand for fiber optics is high in NRW, people and companies want fiber optics for their homes and businesses. Our member companies are ready to invest massively in the expansion of fiber optics in NRW in the coming years. However, we can only accelerate this expansion together with politicians,” says BREKO Managing Director Dr. Stephan Albers. This is why BREKO has launched the virtual fibre optic breakfast to discuss and tackle suitable measures with key players from politics and business.
Fibre optics as a locational advantage in NRW
In addition to the digital policy spokespersons of the CDU, FDP, SPD and Green parliamentary groups, the State Secretary in the Ministry of Economic Affairs, Innovation, Digitization and Energy, Christoph Dammermann, was also present on behalf of North Rhine-Westphalian state politics. In his keynote speech, he emphasized the importance of future-proof fibre optic infrastructure in NRW: “Since 2018, the fibre optic companies in North Rhine-Westphalia have provided more than 500,000 additional households with ultra-fast internet. This is good news: especially in times of contact restrictions and working from home, we are experiencing how essential the supply of gigabit-capable networks is.”
Dr. Sören Trebst, CEO of 1&1 Versatel, emphasized the importance of fiber optic expansion in NRW for the development of a high-performance 5G network: “Fiber optic networks are the basis for 5G. We need the joint efforts of all fixed network companies for a rapid and large-scale roll-out of 5G networks in Germany. In addition, the approval procedures of the building authorities urgently need to be simplified.”
Measures for accelerated fiber optic expansion
BREKO and its member companies believe that faster and leaner approval procedures are an important prerequisite for accelerated fiber optic expansion. These also play a major role in the ongoing modernization of the Telecommunications Act (TKG amendment). In addition to a simplified deadline regulation, the current draft law contains the implementation of the “one-stop store principle” that BREKO has long been calling for: This provides for all necessary approvals for fiber optic expansion to be issued jointly, which in turn simplifies the application process and leads to greater planning security for the expanding companies.
In order to implement these planned positive impulses, it is important to provide the independent cities and districts with the necessary personnel, financial and technical resources. State policy should work towards this and support the local authorities. Dr. Stephan Zimmermann, Managing Director of Deutsche Glasfaser Holding, also underlined this approach today: “In recent years, we have invested one billion euros in the expansion of fiber optics in NRW. We are building over 30,000 fiber optic connections per month across the country. In order to steadily increase the pace, modern installation methods must become the recognized standard in all municipalities. On the other hand, the municipalities themselves must receive better digital and personnel equipment for their building authorities, which goes hand in hand with the digitalization of documentation systems in particular.”
The BREKO companies are clearly in favour of the priority of self-sufficient fibre optic expansion. Thanks to numerous investors, a very high level of financial resources is available for this. For this reason, it is important to find the right balance between the very high level of own-account expansion activities on the one hand and the accompanying subsidized expansion on the other. Stephan Albers explains: “The future “gray-spot funding” should provide for a graduated and staggered system in the sense of an intelligent control logic. The gradation aims to initially focus funding activities on the particularly poorly supplied regions and to limit the total amount of funding provided per year to a maximum of one billion euros”. Robin Weiand, Managing Director of Westenergie Breitband GmbH from Essen, also confirmed this basic stance today. He says: “We are driving the transformation towards a digital society and are consistently focusing on fiber optics. Unbureaucratic approval procedures, especially when using innovative installation methods, must be effective. This will accelerate the self-economic expansion, which should always have priority over subsidized expansion.”
Ruhr-CIX improves internet quality in the region
Jörg Figura, Managing Director of DOKOM Gesellschaft für Telekommunikation mbH, emphasized the importance of stable and, above all, secure data connections for citizens and companies. He presented the first regional Internet exchange point in the Ruhr region (RUHR-CIX): “With the regionalization of Internet exchange points, RUHR-CIX provides the basis for broadband expansion, as Internet traffic between network operators for the entire Ruhr metropolitan area and the economic region of South Westphalia will be exchanged here in future. The ecosystem of the Internet industry will develop strongly in the vicinity of the RUHR-CIX with its data centers and secure access to all clouds will be guaranteed while maintaining German security standards and the GDPR.”
Increased commitment at state level
The great importance of the federal states, cities and municipalities in the expansion of the digital infrastructure in Germany shows the further strengthening of state policy work in the association. BREKO is planning to establish a state group in NRW this year in order to support the expansion of fiber optics directly on site. This was preceded by the founding of the Lower Saxony regional group in October 2020 at a meeting of BREKO member companies expanding in Lower Saxony with Stefan Muhle, State Secretary in the Lower Saxony Ministry of Economic Affairs, Labour, Transport and Digitalization, where the eighth BREKO regional group was founded. The participants at the inaugural meeting nominated Norbert Westfal (EWE TEL) as spokesperson and Karsten Schmidt (htp) and Thomas Wild (GöTel) as deputy spokespersons. The new regional groups will continue the success of the BREKO regional concept
About BREKO
As the leading fiber optic association with more than 370 member companies, the German Broadband Association (BREKO) successfully promotes competition in the German telecommunications market. Its members are clearly committed to future-proof fiber optics and are currently responsible for almost 75 percent of the competitive expansion of fiber optic connections to buildings and homes. The more than 210 telecommunications network operators organized in the association supply both metropolitan areas and rural areas with future-proof fibre optic connections. In 2019, they invested EUR 2.5 billion and generated a turnover of EUR 7.8 billion. Further information can be found at www.brekoverband.de.