The German Broadband Association (BREKO) continues to grow in its 25th anniversary year and now represents 525 companies in the telecommunications industry, including 268 network operators. The members’ meeting took account of this growth by electing five additional members to the association’s Board of Directors today. BREKO President Norbert Westfal was confirmed in office.

The BREKO Market Analysis 2024 published in September showed that the companies expanding fiber optics are reacting to more difficult framework conditions by increasingly building and activating house connections – at the expense of the speed of expansion in the area. At the same time, a whole range of specific political and regulatory measures are needed to strengthen fiber optic expansion and competition in the telecommunications market. In order to strengthen BREKO as the central voice of the telecommunications industry in this challenging situation, the association has added five new members to its Board of Directors.

New members of the BREKO Board are Timo von Lepel (Managing Director of NetCologne), Sabrina-Maria Geißler (Managing Director of wittenberg-net, subsidiary of Stadtwerke Lutherstadt Wittenberg), Judith Luig (Managing Director of Glasfaser Münster, subsidiary of Stadtwerke Münster), Rickmann von Platen (Board member of Freenet), and Ruben Queimano Alonso (CCO of Deutsche Glasfaser). Former Management Board member Matthias Groß is leaving the company as he is moving from Netcom BW to the parent company EnBW at the end of November. All other current members of the Management Board were confirmed in office.

The BREKO Executive Committee with Association President Norbert Westfal (EWE TEL), Vice President and Treasurer Karsten Kluge (Thüringer Netkom) and Vice President Alfred Rauscher (R- KOM) was also confirmed in office.

The five new member companies elected to the Board of Directors stand for the strength and diversity of the network operators organized in BREKO and represent the growing breadth of the business models represented in the association: Deutsche Glasfaser and NetCologne are two pioneers in German fibre-optic expansion and are among the largest fibre-optic network operators – one nationwide, the other in the Rhineland. Wittenberg-net and Glasfaser Münster stand for the strong role that municipal companies play in fiber optic expansion. And with Freenet, Germany’s largest mobile communications service provider is now represented on the BREKO board, because fair competition in mobile communications is also an important factor for successful fiber optic expansion.

The new BREKO Board of Management at a glance:

President: Norbert Westfal, Spokesman of the Board of Management of EWE TEL GmbH (Oldenburg)

Vice President and Treasurer: Karsten Kluge, Managing Director of Thüringer Netkom GmbH (Weimar)

Vice President: Alfred Rauscher, Managing Director of R-KOM GmbH (Regensburg)

Other board members:

Fabian Bühring, Managing Director SWN Glasfaser Beteiligungen GmbH & Co. KG (Neumünster)

Stephan Drescher, Managing Director of envia TEL GmbH (Markkleeberg)

Thomas Eibeck, Managing Director SachsenGigaBit GmbH (Dresden)

Sabrina-Maria Geißler, Managing Director of wittenberg-net GmbH (Wittenberg)

Bernd Gowitzke, Managing Director KEVAG Telekom GmbH (Koblenz)

Dr. Christian Humpert, Managing Director DB broadband GmbH (Frankfurt am Main)

Judith Luig, Managing Director Glasfaser Münster GmbH & Co. KG (Münster)

Jens Prautzsch, Managing Director of Unsere Grüne Glasfaser GmbH & Co KG (Ismaning)

Ruben Queimano Alonso, Managing Director of Deutsche Glasfaser Holding GmbH (Borken)

Wolfram Rinner, Managing Director GasLINE GmbH & Co. KG (Straelen)

Karsten Schmidt, Managing Director htp GmbH (Hanover)

Marco Sick, Managing Director Eurofiber Netz GmbH (Berlin)

Robin Weiand, Managing Director Westconnect GmbH (Essen)

Timo von Lepel, Managing Director NetCologne Gesellschaft für Telekommunikation mbH (Cologne)

Rickmann von Platen, Member of the Management Board of Freenet AG (Büdelsdorf)