The Federal Network Agency has rejected the demand for service provider obligation in exchange for a five-year extension of frequency use rights for network operators. Instead, the negotiation requirement for Deutsche Telekom, Vodafone and Telefónica (o2) should be complemented by a “railway” aimed at promoting effective negotiations.
Advertisement
The need for negotiation forces mobile network operators to negotiate capabilities with competitors without their own networks. In the past too we have repeatedly heard complaints that mobile operators are not taking negotiations seriously. However, with service provider obligation, the three existing operators will be forced to lease part of their capacity to competitors that do not have their own infrastructure.
appointment on thursday
The regulator has its own position in a paper A public hearing on the provision of mobile phone frequencies is scheduled for Thursday. The appointment was requested by mobile phone service provider Freenet.
Essentially, the Federal Network Agency is sticking to the line of its Presidential Chamber’s draft from May 2024. It seeks to extend the usage rights of the three major mobile network operators in the 800 MHz, 1.8 GHz and 2.6 GHz ranges until 2030. In turn, it is planning higher requirements for further expansion of the mobile network. From 2030 onwards, the three top dogs should provide approximately 99.5 percent of the area in Germany with download speeds of at least 50 Mbit/s.
The requirement to negotiate on the side of service providers and mobile phone discounters regarding the shared use of radio capacity, on which the Bonn authority is relying, has existed in principle since 2018. However, this “has proven ineffective in practice,” complained broadband association Bracco in July. He therefore called for an effective service provider obligation for the benefit of “all appropriate consumers”. According to industry representatives, without such improvements, frequency expansion is likely to be illegal. Similar appeals also came from the Federal Association of Consumer Organizations (vzbv).
decision as soon as possible
The Federal Network Agency now wants to provide only “a benchmark in the form of more specific provisions” for the negotiations in order to boost their effectiveness. The latter should in principle “be non-discriminatory and the capabilities provided should not be limited to certain services, radio technologies or applications”. At 1&1’s request, Top Dogs should also negotiate with the newcomer regarding the use of the existing nationwide network for national roaming. It is said that these discussions should be “impartial”. If 1&1 has not received a proposal by early 2026, the authority reserves the right to order national roaming.
The proposed frequency process, which is now taking strong shape, has been under debate for a long time. For example, the Monopolies Commission advocated extending licenses to a maximum of three years. The Federal Cartel Office spoke completely against the continuation of the use rights. Klaus Müller, president of the Federal Network Agency, reassured on Wednesday: “Our goal is to improve mobile communications and further promote competition. We want to combine the expansion of frequencies with ambitious coverage requirements.” There are “special rules” for 1 and 1.
In the medium term, the regulatory authority wants to make the spectrum available for use after the end of 2030 within a larger, competitive procedural context, aligning the terms and conditions, in particular with usage rights expiring in 2033 and 2036. He has called upon the interested parties to present their case again in the on-site hearing. The agency then wants to take a final decision on the provision of mobile frequencies as soon as possible “to create legal and planning certainty for the market”.
(vbr)
