Berlin, 05.06.2024 – The Bundestag’s Digital Committee today approved the Federal Network Agency’s proposal to increase the minimum requirements for the right to be provided with telecommunications services. Dr. Stephan Albers, Managing Director of the German Broadband Association (BREKO), explains:

“We consider the proposed increase in minimum bandwidths to 15 Mbit/s for downloads and 5 Mbit/s for uploads to be questionable. The expert opinions on the basis of which the Federal Network Agency recommends this increase would also have allowed the previous minimum requirements to be retained. Nevertheless, following this adjustment, the minimum bandwidths will meet the requirements for the coming years and will not have to be adjusted again in the foreseeable future.

With its proposal, the Federal Network Agency is clearly rejecting demands for significantly higher bandwidths. Anyone who demands 30 Mbit/s or more for the right to basic internet service is misjudging its purpose as a last resort for households that cannot be supplied with fiber optics either on their own or with subsidies.

An increase in minimum bandwidths is likely to increase the number of households considered to be underserved. This makes it all the more important to primarily use mobile and satellite-based solutions to connect them quickly and efficiently.

To ensure that as many households as possible receive a future-proof fiber-optic connection as quickly as possible, the framework conditions for self-business network expansion in particular should be improved and the federal government’s gigabit funding should flow even more specifically into areas that really need it.”