The Federal Network Agency presented its plans for the extension of mobile frequencies at a hearing today. Sven Knapp, Head of the Capital Office of the German Broadband Association (BREKO), explains:

“Instead of finally creating real competition, the Federal Network Agency is sticking to its course of protecting the mobile top dogs Telekom, Vodafone and Telefónica from unwelcome competition. The fact that the authority is reaffirming its commitment to the hitherto completely ineffective negotiation requirement shows that it is clearly not taking the ruling of the Administrative Court of Cologne, which led to the annulment of the 2018 frequency allocation decision and calls for greater competition, seriously.

The authority cannot ignore the court ruling, as the demands made in it and the criticized errors run like a red thread through the current frequency procedure. Instead of setting up practically useless “guard rails” for a negotiation requirement, the authority must finally ensure effective competition. This is only possible with a service provider obligation that would prevent years of unsuccessful negotiation attempts and ensure competition. For years, Deutsche Telekom and its competitors have been blocking the offer of high-performance 5G tariffs for competitors without their own mobile network – a clear disadvantage for consumers and business customers. As things stand today, even companies expanding fiber optic networks still have no chance of offering competitive bundled products consisting of fiber optic Internet and mobile communications.

The fact that the Federal Network Agency has today lodged an appeal against the Cologne Administrative Court’s decision not to allow an appeal is within its procedural rights. However, it shows that it obviously does not want to distance itself from the actions of the previous management of the Federal Network Agency.”