Under fire for slowing down altnets’ fibre rollouts, Deutsche Telekom calls for access to rivals’ ducts to accelerate its own network deployment
Monitoring unit publishes its first review of duplicate fibre rollouts
On 11 April 2024, BNetzA published an interim report from the unit responsible for monitoring duplicate fibre infrastructure projects – i.e. overbuild – in Germany. The regulator and the Federal Ministry for Digital and Transport (BMDV) set up the unit in July 2023 to keep a “systematic and continuous record” of duplicate investments, thereby implementing a central pillar of the Government’s Gigabit Strategy. It aims to ensure policymakers have a complete picture of fibre deployments going on in the country. According to Klaus Müller (President, BNetzA), the interim report is the first comprehensive review of its kind, revealing: 1) that duplicate rollouts exist both across Germany and in various “competitive constellations”; and 2) the market position of the operator overbuilding its rivals. However, Müller considers it is not yet possible to perform a reliable competitive assessment on the basis of the cases reported to the monitoring unit, with further information still required.
Altnets reported to be overbuilding as much as Deutsche Telekom
The analysis in the interim report is based on 427 instances of overbuild reported to the monitoring unit up to 1 March 2024, including cases of duplicate fibre infrastructure that has already been deployed and projects that have so far only been announced. The review focuses on combining similar examples and identifying patterns of practices that may be anti-competitive in order to generate an overall picture of the market, rather than to treat or solve an individual case. Of the total reports of overbuild, BnetzA states that there is a balance between the number attributed to Deutsche Telekom and the number attributed to one of its competitors. Nevertheless, the analysis indicates that Deutsche Telekom is more likely than other network operators to respond swiftly to a commercial launch by a competitor deploying first or to only deploy infrastructure in lucrative core areas. The regulator also provides the caveat that no conclusions about the players' motives and strategies can be drawn from the information provided.
BNetzA seeks transparency from operators on deployment plans and the scope for open access agreements
The monitoring unit’s analysis reflects data from the Verband kommunaler Unternehmen (VKU) – the association for the local public utility sector in Germany – that 62% of its members have been overbuilt or are at risk of it. The VKU argues that strategic overbuilding by “market-dominating companies”, such as Deutsche Telekom, is slowing down the expansion of fibre across the country, and wants the former incumbent to provide regular information about its deployment plans over the coming 12 months. Meanwhile, Deutsche Telekom is calling for access to altnets’ ducts to help accelerate its fibre push, arguing that the obligations only it faces in the physical infrastructure access (PIA) market cause a “massive imbalance” that could enable rivals to create localised monopolies. BNetzA has now contacted Deutsche Telekom and other network operators that were named several times as duplicating infrastructure to collect detailed information about, for example, the firms’ rollout decisions and their willingness to cooperate more closely, including the potential for open access agreements. The monitoring unit will make an objective analysis of all the information it receives and subsequently publish its findings, while continuing to be open to new reports of overbuild.
