Berlin, 03.04.2023 – The Federal Association for Broadband Communication (BREKO) comments as follows on the launch of the new federal gigabit funding program announced today by the Federal Ministry of Digital and Transport (BMDV):

“BREKO welcomes the fact that the publication of the gigabit funding program by the Federal Ministry for Digital and Transport (BMDV) now provides clarity on how to proceed with fiber optic funding.

BREKO is critical of the fact that the funding program does not contain any effective mechanisms to target funding to the municipalities that really need state support measures to improve local internet coverage. The new gigabit funding program is a political compromise between theBMDV, the federal states and the municipalities that does not take sufficient account of the expansion practices of companies and the limited civil engineering capacities available. In particular, there is a lack of limitation of the parallel funding procedures and an efficient dovetailing of the self-business expansion with supplementary funding, which would lead to the rapid nationwide fiber optic expansion of municipalities. Unfortunately, the potential analysis commissioned by the BMDV itself does not play a relevant role in the prioritization of funding measures.

BREKO views the introduction of so-called industry dialogs as a preliminary stage to a possible market exploration procedure as fundamentally positive. These should be used by local authorities and telecommunications companies to enter into an open exchange at an early stage and to fully exploit the potential for a self-sufficient fiber optic expansion. It is important that all parties involved work together constructively and pursue this common goal. However, BREKO does not understand why industry dialogs will only become mandatory from 2024. This thwarts the BMDV’s self-imposed goal of giving priority to the roll-out of fiber optics on a commercial basis.

BREKO also believes that the introduction of maximum funding amounts per federal state and year provided for in the new funding program is a sensible innovation. However, instead of pooling unused funding from one year in an overall pot, the BMDV should have allocated a proportionately higher share to the federal states that have not exhausted their funding in the following year in order to create incentives for the targeted and economical use of funding.

We will closely monitor how the new regulations affect fiber optic expansion in practice and demand adjustments to the funding program if necessary. We also expect the same from the BMDV: The ongoing evaluation announced by the BMDV must also begin with the start of the funding program in order to be able to react immediately to possible negative effects of the program for fibre optic expansion as a whole.

However, funding that sensibly supplements the roll-out by the private sector is only one lever for accelerating the expansion of fiber optics in Germany. Equally important is a rapid roll-out of the OZG broadband portal in all federal states and municipalities in order to digitize and accelerate the approval process. Another factor that can contribute to making real fiber optic connections available everywhere in Germany by 2030, as envisaged by the federal government, is the rapid adoption of the standard for modern installation methods in fiber optic expansion.”