The German Broadband Association (BREKO) comments on today’s proposal by the Federal Network Agency (BNetzA) on the future regulation of Telekom’s fixed network:

“We support the goal formulated by BNetzA President Klaus Müller of advancing the expansion of fiber optics as quickly as possible with stable, transparent and competitive framework conditions. However, based on today’s press release from the BNetzA, BREKO considers it questionable whether the right means have been chosen to achieve this goal.

First of all, it is noticeable that the press release does not mention the important topic of “Equivalence of Input” (EoI) at all. EoI means that service providers who purchase wholesale services from a network operator (in this case Telekom) can access the same systems, processes and resources as the network operator itself. BREKO believes that consistent and comprehensive implementation of this principle is an essential component of fair, future-oriented and successful regulation of fiber optic networks. We expect the BNetzA to take this point sufficiently into account in its proposal, although it does not appear in the press release.

In BREKO’s view, another central cornerstone of fair market regulation is a comprehensive migration concept for the switch from copper to future-proof fiber optic networks that reflects the interests of all companies involved in the market. It is incomprehensible to us why this important instrument was not mentioned in the BNetzA’s press release.

Instead, the BNetzA emphasizes the high relevance of empty conduit access for accelerating the expansion of fibre optics. However, this has been regulated since 2016 in the Act to Facilitate the Expansion of Digital High-Speed Networks (DigiNetz Act).

BREKO is critical of an expansion of the existing obligation to provide access to empty conduits, as access to empty conduits can be used for the superstructure of existing fiber optic networks, which could have a negative impact on the speed of expansion.

With regard to access to copper networks, the BNetzA should not rely on 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. Like BREKO, the Monopolies Commission has already expressed strong concerns that this model could lead to a transfer of market power by Deutsche Telekom from the copper to the fiber optic market. Such an impairment of competition would slow down the switch from copper to fiber optic connections.”