Bonn, 16.12.2021

Today, the Monopolies Commission presented its 12th Telecommunications Sector Report under the title “Competition in Transition”. The Monopolies Commission calls for the migration process from copper to fiber optic networks to be aligned with competition and for planning security to be created for all market participants.

BREKO Managing Director Dr. Stephan Albers welcomes the Monopolies Commission’s proposals:

“Our goal, and this is also stated in the coalition agreement of the new federal government, is to achieve nationwide fiber optic expansion in Germany. In its new telecommunications sector report, the Monopolies Commission makes important proposals for further accelerating the expansion of fiber optics, which should be taken up by the new federal government and the Federal Network Agency.”

In order to further increase the pace of expansion, BREKO believes that telecommunications companies need clarity on the conditions for migrating from copper to future-proof fiber optic networks. To ensure this, the Monopolies Commission is also in favor of the Federal Network Agency defining a binding migration plan together with the market participants. In addition, the Monopolies Commission emphasizes that the migration plan will only provide incentives for the expansion of fibre optics if the migration is designed in line with competition and takes appropriate account of the interests of the companies expanding fibre optics.

Like the Monopolies Commission, BREKO also sees a major risk that Deutsche Telekom’s so-called commitment model, under which it has concluded access and fee agreements with the largest wholesale customers 1&1, Telefónica and Vodafone, could impair competition and thus become a stumbling block for the switch from copper to fiber optic connections. The Monopolies Commission is right to call on the Federal Network Agency to critically examine the commitment model in order to prevent Telekom from transferring market power from the copper to the fiber optic market.

Another positive aspect is the Monopolies Commission’s clear preference for efficient abuse control based on the principle of EoI (“equivalence of input”), in which the distribution of the dominant company and the wholesale customer use the same systems, processes and resources. This can prevent wholesale customers from being placed at a disadvantage. Effective abuse control makes it possible to dispense with ex ante fee regulation for fiber optic networks.

Finally, BREKO welcomes the Monopolies Commission’s assessment of the imposition of a service provider obligation on mobile network operators. This is possible under current law and also necessary in order to create genuine competition in mobile communications. Specifically, the Monopolies Commission proposes imposing a service provider obligation on mobile network operators in the next frequency allocation.