Berlin/Bonn, 11.06.2021 Under the motto “Fiber for Future: How we can sustainably digitize Germany with the best infrastructure”, the German Broadband Association (BREKO) is entering the hot phase of the Bundestag election campaign with its position paper for the 2021 Bundestag elections. The aim of the paper is to put forward concrete digital policy proposals for the next legislative period.

With its “Fiber for Future” initiative, BREKO wants to highlight the importance of digital policy and digital infrastructure in the federal election year. With the conviction that Germany needs committed digital policymakers for the digital transformation, the association is recognizing digital policy pioneers as digital policymakers until the federal elections. As the centerpiece of the initiative, the Glasfaserverband is today publishing its position paper with concrete demands on politicians.

The clear message of the paper is that Germany needs the best digital infrastructure in order to exploit the potential of digitalization and enable the development of innovative digital services. This means future-proof fiber optic networks right into buildings and homes. The paper makes proposals for further accelerating the expansion. BREKO President Norbert Westfal comments: “Fiber optics is the digital infrastructure that will lead Germany into a successful and sustainable future. This is now a political consensus. The expansion of fiber optics has already gained significant momentum and is reaching more and more citizens, schools, companies and other important facilities. We need realistic goals and a clear plan for the decisive stage of expansion. In our election paper, we make concrete proposals for implementation. On this basis, we will actively participate in the digital policy debate in the coming months.”

The key points of the BREKO election paper are a sensible dovetailing of self-economic and supplementary subsidized expansion instead of state expansion obligations and the implementation of the new legal requirements of the Telecommunications Act in practice. In its paper, BREKO also calls for an end to the terms “gigabit” and “gigabit networks”. Germany needs a future-proof digital infrastructure for the coming decades, regardless of bandwidths. In order to ensure greater honesty and transparency and to make it easier for consumers to gain an overview and make a choice, BREKO advocates the introduction of a fiber optic label similar to the EU energy label. This will increase the public’s understanding of the benefits of fiber optic networks and their acceptance and help to increase demand.

BREKO is also calling for the creation of a digital ministry including a substructure and the establishment of a leading Bundestag committee for digital policy. BREKO Managing Director Dr. Stephan Albers emphasizes that the design is particularly important here: “What we urgently need in the new legislative period are convinced digital politicians. Regardless of which parties form the new government, there must be a cross-party commitment to digitalization. Germany also needs a separate ministry for digital topics of overarching importance, which were previously spread across various ministries. These topics include digital infrastructure, IT security, administrative modernization, the use of artificial intelligence, quantum computing and the early identification of promising innovations. It would not be expedient to separate digital competencies from the individual specialist ministries. Just as every politician today is a digital politician, each individual ministry must also become a digital ministry in its specialist area.”

Fiber for Future at the Digital Day 2021

In addition to its political work, the aim of the “Fiber for Future” initiative is to bring the benefits of fibre optic infrastructure closer to a broad target group. The initiative’s virtual events for various target groups in the run-up to the Bundestag elections will focus on this and the challenges of a future-oriented digital policy. The next online event “FiberforFuture: Sustainable digitalization thanks to fiber optics” will take place on 18 June 2021 as part of the nationwide Digital Day and is aimed at citizens who are interested in the topics of digitalization and sustainability and would like to learn more about the expansion of fiber optics in Germany. The online briefing for digital policymakers is planned for July 8, 2021. Registration and further information on the initiative can be found at fiber-for-future.de and on LinkedIn and Twitter.

The BREKO position paper on the 2021 federal elections is available HERE.