The Bundeskartellamt provisionally finds that Vantage Towers could have done more to support new entrant 1&1 and may have instead favoured its parent company Vodafone
Significant delays have occurred in the provision of sites to 1&1, while Vodafone has upgraded much of its network to 5G
On 11 April 2025, Germany’s Bundeskartellamt (or Federal Cartel Office) sent its preliminary legal assessment to Vodafone – both Group and Germany – and Vantage Towers regarding their failure to provide antenna sites for new fourth mobile network operator 1&1. In late 2021, Vantage Towers (into which Vodafone Group spun off its mobile infrastructure) concluded a commercial agreement with 1&1 for the shared use of a “four-digit number” of sites, which were to be delivered in several batches until the end of 2025. The parties later agreed to postpone the deployment deadlines by one year. 1&1’s co-use of these sites is seen as essential to the new entrant rolling out its own mobile network; however, since the agreement was signed, there have been considerable delays in Vantage Towers providing the agreed site locations. Currently, 1&1 is still only able to use a fraction of the sites promised to it, which has in turn hindered its deployment plans. In contrast, Vodafone has significantly expanded its own network and upgraded large parts of it to 5G, including the sites that were meant to be used by 1&1.
Vodafone and Vantage Towers have allegedly hindered 1&1’s network build-out, breaching the German Competition Act
According to Andreas Mundt (President, Bundeskartellamt), the findings obtained to date indicate an “anti-competitive impediment” to 1&1’s market entry and its ability to compete, which may not have been "inconvenient to Vodafone” as it slowed the emergence of a fourth mobile operator. As such, the delay in site provision and its negative effects on competition could, and indeed should, have been avoided due to the prohibition of abuse under national antitrust law. The Bundeskartellamt’s preliminary assessment is that Vodafone and Vantage Towers’ practices represent abusive conduct within the meaning of Sections 19 and 20 of the German Competition Act (the GWB). Based on information currently available, the firms would have several options to respond to potential difficulties in meeting their contractual obligations in order to avoid causing such serious delays. For example, for a certain period of time, they could have focused planned 5G upgrades for Vodafone on sites other than those intended for 1&1 and/or they could have generally concentrated more of their own resources on fulfilling contractual requirements. The competition authority is therefore considering using its powers to enforce the provision of the sites that have not yet been made available.
The Bundeskartellamt is considering a requirement that all outstanding sites be provided with the next three years
In February 2023, 1&1 filed a complaint with the Bundeskartellamt about the behaviour of Vodafone and Vantage Towers, claiming that the towerco had failed to keep to delivery agreements on several occasions and that it has demonstrated a clear preference for supporting the rollout activities of Vodafone over that of 1&1. Since the end of that year, the Bundeskartellamt has been in negotiations with Vodafone regarding commitments that would have been capable of eliminating the competition concerns raised in the authority’s preliminary assessment. However, the commitments proposed by the companies have so far failed even to meet what they had originally agreed contractually to provide, and have therefore been deemed to be unsuitable by the Bundeskartellamt. The competition authority is currently considering not only to determine that the conduct it has identified is anti-competitive, but also to impose on Vodafone and Vantage Towers an obligation to provide the relevant sites within three years alongside a number of additional measures. The statement of objections is an interim step – as well as a warning – that gives the companies the opportunity to comment in detail on the Bundeskartellamt’s preliminary assessment, with a final decision on this matter expected to be issued in mid-2025.
