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Breko: Half of Germany with the prospect of fast Internet
The former Federal Minister of Digitization and Transport, Volker Wissing (FDP), can be pleased: although he has not been in office since May, an official, not infinitely ambitious goal has been achieved: more than half of all residential units, businesses and public authorities will be passed by fibre optics. The federal government had set this as an interim target for 2022. And according to an annual analysis of data from telecommunications providers commissioned by the German Broadband Association (Breko), precisely this mark has now been exceeded in June 2025: 52.8% are now “Homes Passed”, according to the analysis.
In principle, half of the country could therefore be connected to the fastest mass-available Internet connection technology. And that could be a lucrative business for operators. But without cables to the house and possibly also in the house, this is largely gray theory for the time being – because providers cannot earn any money with Internet at the door. In the figures that Jens Böcker. Professor at the Bonn-Rhein-Sieg University of Applied Sciences for Breko, this triad looks like this: 24.3 million potential users have the prospect of fast Internet (Homes Passed), 12.6 million already have a line (Homes Connected) – and 6.6 million have actually booked a fiber optic connection. This means that the providers have recorded decent, but not enormous growth rates.
From street fighting to house fighting
The arena is therefore increasingly shifting from the battle in the street to the battle in the home: to earn money, providers have to win customers. The most efficient way to do this is in apartment buildings: One-off installation in the street (“homes passed”, one-off “house sting”), and then installation at so-called network level 4: connecting users in the house itself – where numerous users could book fast connections, especially in the case of apartment blocks. However, the current regulations are considered impractical in the industry – firstly because there is little incentive for homeowners to allow the fiber optic companies to expand. Secondly, because each user has to be convinced individually. And for many, VDSL is apparently still enough: the number of users has risen again to 20.5 million, according to market researchers. Television cable and simple DSL connections in particular continued to lose market share.
What is likely to be the most important question for the fate of the industry: how the Federal Ministry for Digital and State Modernization and the Federal Network Agency will position themselves on a shutdown logic for the copper networks. This is gradually becoming relevant in some parts of the country: in Schleswig-Holstein in particular, where almost 93% are considered to be passed and almost two thirds are basically connected, the thought games are becoming a foreseeably realistic scenario. In Baden-Württemberg, Saarland and Bavaria, however, this is still a long way off: here, VDSL is likely to remain the standard for most citizens for years to come.
Telekom: No rush
The industry is therefore keeping a close eye on how the VDSL top dog, Deutsche Telekom, is behaving. In terms of the number of fiber optic connections it has implemented, it is still well behind its competitors. Even Deutsche Telekom CEO Tim Höttges was not entirely happy about this a week ago –, but from the Bonn-based company’s perspective, everything is still going according to plan. Most recently, Telekom has increasingly focused on cooperations and has also agreed to market Telekom’s own fiber optic connections with 1&1, among others. However, Telekom is still more of a wait-and-see giant in the background: Of the 10 million homes passed, only 2.5 million units are also connected via a house tap and just 1.7 million customers have booked a fiber optic connection with Telekom. As long as VDSL is sufficient for many customers or can be supplemented by mobile communications if necessary, there is little reason for them to rush, unlike some of their competitors. In addition, the current political dynamics are playing into its hands.
This is one reason why Breko now has clear demands for the new Federal Digital Minister Karsten Wildberger (CDU). Wildberger has not yet set a precise target as to what fiber optic quota should be achieved and when. Most recently, he spoke of 70 percent fiber optics, which should be achieved by the end of the 2029 legislative period – not a particularly ambitious target. At the same time, Wildberger warned against “simply switching off” DSL infrastructures. His company is to present initial considerations for an orderly migration in the coming weeks.
Breko Managing Director Stephan Albers is now calling for a concrete concept – to go hand in hand with a reform of the Telecommunications Act. At the same time, the Breko Managing Director does not want to see another idea from the Wildberger Ministry implemented under any circumstances: This had proposed controlling the use of building cabling at network level 4 by third parties via regulated charges. For the members of Breko, whose expansion is more advanced in many places than that of Telekom, this proposal should be quickly shelved, demands Albers. According to the Breko, the housing industry is currently on the right track, as it has now recognized the opportunities offered by laying fibre optic cables.
Fixed network will not be replaced by mobile communications
Albers, however, declares another discussion to be over, according to Breko. Replacing landlines with mobile communications is not really an issue – The rate of mobile landline replacements has been stable for years. Around six percent of people would be happy with mobile telephony alone. However, leaving the upper 6 gigahertz radio spectrum to mobile operators for their sole use is out of the question.
(mki)
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This article was originally published in
It was translated with technical assistance and editorially reviewed before publication.
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