According to the latest market analysis by the German Broadband Association (BREKO), North Rhine-Westphalia is only in the lower midfield when it comes to expanding its digital infrastructure. BREKO provides the figures and explains the background.

With a fiber optic expansion rate of 40%, North Rhine-Westphalia is in eleventh place in the fiber optic state comparison as of mid-2024. The frontrunner is Schleswig-Holstein (89%), with Baden-Württemberg bringing up the rear (29%). Despite an increase of 8 percentage points compared to the same period last year, the largest federal state is just below the national average of 43%.The fiber optic roll-out rate describes the proportion of households, companies and public institutions in whose vicinity a fiber optic line is at least in the street.

The situation looks better in terms of the fiber optic connection rate, the proportion of households actually connected. Here, North Rhine-Westphalia is in a good seventh place with 25% (national average: 23%). These are the results of the BREKO Market Analysis 2024, which is based on data from all relevant companies involved in fiber optic expansion in Germany. It is therefore representative of the German telecommunications market.

Jan Simons, Head of State Policy at BREKO: “One in four households in North Rhine-Westphalia already has access to the fiber optic network. This is encouraging and underlines the population’s desire for future-proof high-speed Internet. However, there is still a lot of room for improvement in terms of the framework conditions, and the state government must do more to promote the expansion of fiber optics, especially in rural regions. The gigabit coordinators, who act as a link between the state and local authorities and manage the expansion at a local level, are a good approach.”