The German network operator associations are increasing the pressure on the federal government and are demanding clarification about Telekom's construction of fiber optic networks. In letters to Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD), Finance Minister Christian Lindner (FDP) and Digital Minister Volker Wissing (FDP), the presidents of the Anga, Breko and VATM associations call for “quick, transparent clarification and corresponding consistent action”.
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The background is the dispute over the double expansion of fiber optic networks in rural regions. The associations accuse Telekom of specifically expanding where competitors are already building or planning to do so. This also ties up already scarce capacity in line construction. Telekom usually rejects such allegations and emphasizes that it is also being overbuilt.
Things are getting tight in the country
Healthy infrastructure competition is generally not a problem in larger cities and is also desirable. However, network expansion in sparsely populated regions can become uneconomical if a competitor suddenly appears and customers who have already been taken into account drop out. The associations say that in some cases, Telekom's mere announcement that customers are leaving is enough.
The conflict has been simmering for some time. Both sides are conducting specially commissioned studies to consolidate their position. Last summer, the federal government set up a “monitoring office” at the Federal Network Agency, which was supposed to collect complaints from companies and then draw an overall picture of the superstructure problem. The Federal Network Agency actually wanted to take stock and report at the beginning of the year.
That hasn't happened yet. Instead, the Federal Network Agency has further fueled the mood with its own commissioned study that gives the competition in the mobile communications market a clean bill of health. The fixed network operators, who rely on advance payments from mobile operators for their own bundled offers, consider the paper to be grossly incorrect and “strongly driven by interests”.
Irritable mood
The mood among network operators is irritable. They expect the Federal Ministry for Digital and Transport (BMDV) and the Federal Network Agency to finally publish their results. In their letter to Digital Minister Wissing, the associations are unusually clear.
“Although you and your ministry are aware of the problem and the negative consequences, little has happened since then,” the associations write. “Instead of taking measures against the behavior of the market-powerful Deutsche Telekom, your company's own promise to ensure the fastest possible transparency on the issue was not even kept.”
And to further emphasize their demands, a letter is also sent to Chancellor Scholz. Although the evaluation “has been available to the State Secretary Stefan Schnorr, responsible at the BMDV, for weeks, it has not yet been published,” the associations complain. It is “shocking” that the federal government “obviously does not want to make public the central results of such an important evaluation with regard to Deutsche Telekom.”
A “clear rejection of a strategically destructive superstructure” is overdue, says the letter to the Chancellor. “We expect that the company, which is still largely owned by the federal government, will ensure appropriate transparency in its expansion, will not push out other companies, and will not strategically thwart the federal government's goals out of self-interest.”
Federal Finance Minister Lindner pointed out that “Telekom's anti-competitive behavior” had a detrimental effect on the state budget: “The strategic cherry-picking of particularly lucrative areas increases the need for state funding enormously, as less economic expansion is possible.”
“Factual clarification not completed”
A spokesman for the Digital Ministry told the dpa news agency that there was no report yet. “Both expanding companies and local authorities have reported numerous cases of overconstruction. The monitoring body has not yet completed its investigation into the facts.”
A spokesman for Telekom rejected the associations' allegations. “Our competitors are apparently trying to put pressure on an independent authority by all means possible.” Telekom is building two thirds of all new fiber optic connections in Germany. “We are also being built over.” The Federal Network Agency itself reported 200 overbuilding cases.
(vbr)