Bonn/Brussels, 9 January 2026 As the European Commission closes its public consultation on the review of the Digital Decade Policy Programme (DDPP), the German Broadband Association (BREKO) calls for a clearer, more realistic, and investment-friendly EU connectivity policy. BREKO warns that without an explicit prioritisation of fibre, effective competition, and stronger long-term policy certainty beyond 2030, Europe risks falling short of its Digital Decade objectives. 

BREKO welcomes the DDPP as an important framework for accelerating digital infrastructure deployment across the EU. However, fibre investment momentum has weakened, particularly in large and capital-intensive markets such as Germany, due to rising financing costs, uneven demand, and limited long-term visibility.

“Europe’s fibre ambitions will not be delivered through technology-neutral ‘gigabit’ targets alone,” says Lisia Mix-Bieber, Head of Public Policy at BREKO. “The DDPP review should explicitly prioritise fibre as the reference infrastructure for fixed networks, extend deployment objectives beyond 2030, and safeguard effective competition, including a competition-friendly, non-discriminatory, and rule-based copper-to-fibre transition framework.”

BREKO stresses that the current gigabit framing risks prolonging reliance on legacy copper networks, diverting capital away from fibre deployment and delaying migration to future-proof infrastructure. BREKO also underlines that fair competition is crucial to keep deployment incentives strong. “If competitive pressure weakens, there is a credible risk that the incumbent will drastically slow its fibre investment and roll-out pace, reducing overall market momentum, and undermining EU connectivity objectives” says Lisia Mix-Bieber.

At the same time, BREKO highlights the demand-side challenge. While fibre coverage has expanded, take-up remains uneven and often insufficient to ensure financially sustainable deployment. Effective, competition-neutral demand-side measures are needed to quickly unlock the full benefits of fibre connectivity.

Finally, BREKO calls for reinforced EU support for private financing of fibre networks, including stronger risk-sharing instruments, an enhanced role for the European Investment Bank, and progress on the Capital Markets Union to improve access to affordable long-term capital.