Germany has a month to change Deutsche Telekom’s privileges in broadband

Sapo opens laboratory at the University of Aveiro

The European Commission has given Germany one month to modify the standard that favors Deutsche Telekom in the broadband market. The law came into force in February and goes against the rules in force in Europe as it gives the operator a period of regulatory immunity, in relation to other operators, with regard to Internet access infrastructures using VDSL technology.

In this sense, Germany will have to change the national standard and adapt it to Community telecommunications rules, otherwise the Commission will refer the case back to the European Court of Justice in June.

This is the second stage of the process that opposes the European Commission to the German authorities since, so far, the country has not taken any action on the first recommendations of Brussels. It is recalled that given the dominant position of Deutsche Telekom in the broadband market, the German government enacted a law that allowed the construction of a DSL network with fast access to the Internet, whose infrastructures would not have to be shared with the rest operators.

This decision was criticized by the Commission, which considered the rule harmful to competition in the telecommunications market, one of the most important for the European economy.

Currently, of the 12.9 million accesses in Germany, more than 9 million are controlled by Deutsche Telekom.

Related News:

2006-08-21 – CE obliges Deutsche Telekom to provide better access to its broadband networks