Bonn, 30.11.2021 The new Telecommunications Act (TKG) comes into force on December 1, 2021. It contains many levers to drive forward the expansion of fiber optics and connect citizens in urban and rural areas to the future-proof fiber optic network even faster. The German Broadband Association (BREKO) is calling on politicians to use the opportunities presented by the implementation of the law to ensure that fiber optic expansion really benefits from it.

As the legal framework for the expansion of the digital infrastructure, the new Telecommunications Act now also heralds the long-awaited fiber optic age in Germany at the legislative level. The “new TKG”, which underwent a complete overhaul in May 2021 and will take full effect tomorrow, contains regulations that should ensure that the expansion of fiber optics picks up even more speed. However, the framework conditions set out in the new law must also be implemented in such a way that fiber optic expansion really benefits from them. With the digital policy approaches set out in the coalition agreement, the new German government gives hope that this can be achieved. By setting a real fiber optic target, i.e. fiber to the building, it is making a clear commitment to fiber optics as a future-proof digital infrastructure. BREKO Managing Director Dr. Stephan Albers: “The new TKG contains many tools to speed up the expansion of fiber optics. The biggest accelerator of all is the roll-out on a commercial basis. Giving this priority will speed things up and reduce bureaucracy. The approaches of the ‘traffic light coalition’ are heading in the right direction. With a real fibre optic target, it is the first German government to commit to the fact that we will only digitalize Germany sustainably on the basis of fibre optics.”

The ‘right to fast Internet’ enshrined in the new law should primarily be realized through the rollout of private-sector expansion and supplementary state funding measures and not through a structurally bureaucratic universal service. This is because what sounds like an approach for real digital participation for citizens at first glance turns out to be a brake on expansion when implemented. Stephan Albers: “The universal service must not be sold as a miracle cure. It entails an expansion obligation that diverts already scarce resources away from planned projects and disrupts market dynamics. As a result, no one will reach their goal faster. Wherever expansion has been promised in the next few years, whether self-funded or subsidized, we do not need a solution via the new universal service. “Wherever there is no potential for market-driven expansion in the coming years, subsidies can and should be used,” continued Albers. “First and foremost, and this is also what the new coalition agreement envisages, in the so-called ‘white spots’, i.e. where people are very poorly supplied with fast internet. In order to quickly enable digital participation for particularly poorly supplied households in remote areas, radio-based solutions such as satellite internet should definitely be used before the universal service is deployed.”

Another important tool in the toolbox of the new Telecommunications Act is the new ‘fiber optic provision fee’. In future, the possibility of billing the costs of the broadband connection via the operating costs will be linked to new investments in fiber optic networks to the apartments in apartment buildings. This reorganization of the previous apportionability of the broadband connection sets the course so that tenants in apartment buildings can also benefit from fast fibre-optic Internet and the expansion of fibre-optic networks in both rural and urban areas continues to make progress. The associated open access obligation also means that tenants will be free to choose the TV product or other services they want to use via the infrastructure in the future. BREKO Managing Director Dr. Stephan Albers sees planning security for companies and, above all, an advantage for tenants: “The fiber optic provision fee gives tenants a double advantage. On the one hand, they receive high-performance fiber optic connections faster and, on the other hand, they have a free choice of the services they use and do not have to use the pre-assembled products of their connection providers – as is still common today.”

BREKO network operators believe they are in a good position when it comes to the right to a reduction, i.e. the new regulation for compensation in the event of a poor Internet connection. Due to the high performance of fiber optic networks, the risk of reduced bandwidths reaching the consumer is largely eliminated. However, BREKO believes it is important that consumers are objectively informed about the conditions for a reduction. This depends, for example, on the exact measurement method, the correct measurement instrument and the quality of the measurement, so that there is a basis for a reduction at all. BREKO still sees considerable potential for clarification in this area.