The German Broadband Association (BREKO) comments on the Gigabit Infrastructure Act (GIA) published today by the European Commission as follows:

“BREKO criticizes the EU Commission’s draft for the Gigabit Infrastructure Act (GIA). The legislative proposal does not provide the hoped-for boost for the further expansion of fiber optics in Europe. Instead, the proposal provides incentives for a strategic double expansion of fiber optic networks. BREKO therefore sees an urgent need for improvements to the proposed legislation. The European Parliament is now called upon to make fundamental adjustments in order to make fiber optic expansion in Europe faster and more efficient. By structuring the legislative proposal as a regulation, the member states are also deprived of the leeway to adapt the provisions to the different needs in the individual countries.

BREKO is particularly critical of the fact that the EU Commission’s planned new access rules would facilitate the economically senseless double expansion of fiber optic networks. The planned rules stipulate that overbuilding through the shared use of existing fiber optic infrastructure can only be prevented by the provision of individual fiber optic lines. This requirement would make many expansion projects unprofitable and thus also jeopardize the ambitious expansion targets in Germany and Europe. The planned rules are in clear contradiction to the German Telecommunications Act (TKG), which expressly stipulates that the first company to expand an existing fiber optic network can refuse to overbuild it by sharing existing infrastructure if it offers competitors open network access in the form of a virtual access product (so-called bitstream access). The European Parliament is now called upon to adapt these requirements to ensure the fastest possible expansion of fiber optics.

The GIA also contains far-reaching transparency obligations for network operators. We take a critical view of this, similar to the requirements already laid down in the TKG. In view of the current debates on network resilience, cyber security and the protection of critical infrastructure, care must be taken to ensure that networks do not become vulnerable as a result of excessive transparency obligations. Trying to compensate for the increase in transparency by imposing ever stricter security requirements on network operators in future cannot be the solution.

The proposals in the area of approval procedures, on the other hand, are to be welcomed. In particular, we support the approach of linking standardized and digital procedures with clear timelines. It is important that these measures are taken up and implemented at national and regional level in order to further increase the pace of fiber optic expansion.”