Nationwide coverage of fibre-to-the-home (FTTH) and the latest mobile standard are the goals set by Germany’s next government led by social democrat Olaf Scholz, according to the coalition agreement. The Social Democratic Party (SPD), the Free Democratic Party (FDP) and the Greens have presented their plan to govern until 2025 after agreeing to form a coalition. Investing to expand telecom networks is a priority, according to the plan, particularly in areas with 'white spots'.
The government plans to provide open access to the networks under fair conditions and to accelerate the pace of expansion. It will align the allocation of frequencies to specifications for each area of coverage, including through negative auctions.
The new government will also strengthen the Germany Trade & Invest (GTAI) and the network of chambers of foreign trade. It wants to assess whether legal instruments are sufficient for the government to react quickly if security threats arise from the takeover of critical infrastructure by foreign investors, for example of the German electricity or broadband networks.
German cable operator association Anga has welcomed the coalition partners' promise to decisively support digitisation and the expansion of digital infrastructure in Germany, adding that it is important to strike a balance between subsidised expansion, and expansion financed with private funds. The managing director of industry group VATM, Juergen Gruetzner, added that the commitment of the next government to network expansion with private funds, the digitisation of public administration, and the standardisation of alternative engineering techniques could significantly help gigabit expansion.
