Berlin, November 7, 2023 – At the Conference of Minister Presidents on November 6, the federal and state governments adopted the long-announced “Planning, Approval and Implementation Acceleration Pact”. The German Broadband Association (BREKO) comments on this pact as follows:

“We finally need more speed in the approval process for infrastructure projects. We therefore welcome the agreement between the federal and state governments to tackle this issue as a priority. The pact contains important approaches to simplify and digitalize the approval procedures for fibre optic expansion. However, it is crucial that this is also implemented consistently.

The measures envisaged by the Federal Ministry for Digital and Transport in the draft Telecommunications Network Expansion Acceleration Act (TK-NABEG) to speed up the approval process are not yet sufficient and must be significantly tightened up in the further legislative process. To this end, both the federal states and municipal umbrella organizations must support further-reaching regulations and not block them. The most important measures include further reductions in deadlines, the obligation to issue permits digitally via the OZG broadband portal and the exemption from approval for minor construction measures.”