Berlin, 12.06.2024 The legislative process for the Telecommunications Network Expansion Acceleration Act (TK-NABEG) has been delayed for months. It is intended to simplify and accelerate the expansion of fiber optics and mobile communications. Together with the associations BDEW, ANGA, BREKO and VATM, a broad alliance is calling on Federal Chancellor Olaf Scholz to declare this important project a top priority.

Despite the self-imposed goal of creating better framework conditions for the expansion of digital infrastructure, the traffic light coalition is putting off the TK-NABEG. The corresponding draft bill has been available since August 2023, but the topic has been regularly removed from the Federal Cabinet’s agenda for the past six months as the Federal Ministry for Digital and Transport and the Federal Ministry for the Environment and Consumer Protection have apparently been unable to reach an agreement. A resolution by the federal government before the summer break is currently questionable.

“This development makes us concerned about Germany as a digital location and the federal government’s expansion plans. Faster approval procedures and less bureaucracy are an important key to achieving the nationwide expansion of fiber optics and mobile communications by 2030. The fact that high data rates can flow between Kiel and Constance is a basic prerequisite for both the competitiveness of many companies and the realization of major social projects such as the energy transition,” explain the associations.

This makes it all the more important that the expansion of fiber optics and mobile communications is defined as being in the “overriding public interest” in the TK-NABEG. This would put the expansion of digital infrastructure on an equal footing with the expansion of other infrastructures and ensure greater speed and easier conditions for the expanding companies. It would also make it easier for the approval authorities to weigh up decisions, particularly in the areas of nature conservation, monument protection and building law. It is now up to Chancellor Scholz to make a decision on this contentious issue.