Germany’s Federal Ministry for Transport and Digital Infrastructure (BMVI) has revised its funding guidelines for broadband subsidies in an effort to accelerate the expansion of high-speed internet in the country. The new guidelines, which go into effect 01 August, raise the maximum amount of funding municipalities and districts across Germany can apply for from EUR 15 million to EUR 30 million, while restrictions will be relaxed to allow communities to obtain additional funding should initial cost projections be overrun.
Applications for subsidies should likewise be processed “continuously" going forward instead of being collected over a period of several months, while fixed criteria for awarding subsidies will be eliminated and bureaucratic procedures for applications streamlined. Municipalities that have already applied for funding for copper-wiring projects can also resubmit their application by the end of the year to receive funding for fibre-optic projects instead.The ministry’s broadband subsidy programme has previously come under criticism for awarding only EUR 26.6 million in funding out of a total of EUR 3.5 billion in subsidies available for broadband expansion works. In addition to these revised guidelines, the ministry said it is preparing to launch a new subsidy programme in mid-2019 for areas in Germany that already have access to broadband internet but are not able to surf at gigabit speeds.
