Federal Digital Minister Volker Wissing (independent) sees the upcoming shutdown of Deutsche Telekom’s copper access network as “one of the most urgent issues” of the next few years. “We want to make the path there as non-discriminatory as possible,” Wissing said Thursday at the annual meeting of the Federal Association of Broadband Communications (BRECO) in Berlin.
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The shift from copper to glass worries the industry because Deutsche Telekom’s interests conflict directly with the interests of its competitors. While telcos would like to migrate their VDSL customers to their own fiber optic infrastructure, other network operators fear that the former state-owned company’s traditionally strong market power will be eroded further into the fiber optic era.
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This debate is becoming increasingly heated. Also on Wednesday, Telecom Germany boss Srini Gopalan accused the competition of only wanting to “force the provider to change” – and that the debate only distracts from what’s important: the urgently needed network expansion.
Chief regulator Klaus Mueller, who plays a key role in the copper-glass migration, is not a fan of the vigorous bickering and is calling for the industry to be brought to order. “This contentious debate and words like forced shutdown are not helpful,” Mueller warns. “These are words that create fear, and we don’t need that for fiber optic expansion.”
Given the diverse interests, Andreas Mundt, head of the Federal Cartel Office, believes the market will not do the job alone. “Competition is not going to solve this,” Mundt said. “Such migration processes require change management.” After this, officers like the Federal Cartel Office and the Federal Network Agency will play the same role.
“The difficult thing at this point is to first get the facts straight,” Mundt said, referring to the superstructure. If a company with particularly strong market power comes into play, an authority should be able to prove that it has engaged in abusive behaviour. “It’s not always that simple.”
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“Just because someone doesn’t like it doesn’t mean it’s illegal,” Mueller said. “The question is whether there is an offensive or strategic superstructure.” This is not always legally possible, which is why Mundt believes a change in the law is necessary. “Standing and stopping is not what we want.”
The federal government and Parliament are required to change the law. In view of the upcoming new elections, this will probably take some time. Until then, Vissing is the responsible minister. He advocates passing the “Vaccine Network Expansion Acceleration Act” before the elections, which is currently under discussion. “Germany is on its way to becoming a gigabit society, but we have to stay on the ball,” Wissing said. “We cannot delay.”
(vbr)
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