The law of rapid network expansion has failed for the time being

The fate of the bill to accelerate the expansion of telecom networks, which has been controversial for almost a year and a half, is up in the air after the traffic lights are switched off. The initiative was actually due to be finalized on Wednesday in the Bundestag’s leading digital committee. But the former coalition groups could not pull themselves together and a majority could not be arranged for it. Now they are blaming each other.

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The law of rapid network expansion has failed for the time being

Digital politicians Maik Ausendorf (Greens) and Johannes Schatzel (SPD) explained: “The traffic light coalition led by the FDP thoroughly discussed this legislation, which is important for gigabit expansion, and reached a very good and visionary outcome. The result. We wanted the parliamentary process to end with the second and third readings in the Bundestag. Now the FDP is abandoning its legislative initiative.”

FDP digital expert Maximilian Funke-Kaiser doesn’t want to wear the shoe. He was surprised by his colleagues’ statements because the committee had repealed the Vaccine Network Expansion Acceleration Act (TK-NABEG) “on the initiative of the red-green minority government”, he told Heise Online. “We Free Democrats were and are always ready for dialogue. The fact that the SPD and the Greens are now accusing the FDP only makes clear once again that this is not an issue for them.” Apparently they were looking for a scapegoat for their failures. This legislation could have been negotiated weeks ago, but red-green negotiators delayed it.

Telecom industry is under immense pressure

Friedrich Ufer, managing director of the industry association VATM, recalled the promise of Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) to bring forward major legislative proposals for Germany and the German economy through parliamentary discussions this year. This should include TK-Nabeg. To advance digitalisation, parliamentarians should recognize the “huge public interest in telecommunications infrastructure in fixed networks and mobile communications” and thus decide on the urgently needed reforms and acceleration impulses in the draft this year. The government actually wants to prioritize only the closure of dead spots, for example in nature reserves, but not the expansion of fiber optics. Broadband association Bracco also criticized it.

For SPD parliamentary group deputy Detlef Müller, TK-Nabeg is on the list of priorities that public representatives should work on before new elections on February 23. The law is “absolutely essential” to “rapidly accelerate and de-bureaucratize” gigabit expansion in Germany. He stressed: “There are no social democratic cell phone masts or fiber optic cables, all we need is a comprehensive digital infrastructure.” Therefore, “we must talk constructively with all parties about the implementation of this important project.”

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