Germany: Competition regulator fears re-monopolisation of DT

The German Monopoly Commission published its special report “Telecommunications 2015: Markets in flux”, evaluating the situation and development of competition on the telecommunications market. The Monopoly Commission said it appreciated the work of the Federal Network Agency (BNetzA) as mainly positive. It said some fixed-line regulations could be abandoned, but regulation of access to Deutsche Telekom’s infrastructure was still essential to sustain alternative providers of advanced broadband services.

The competition regulator approved the use of a regional market approach for bitstream access, helping to end regulation in certain areas. However it is concerned about the BNetzA’s recent decision to allow DT to go ahead with the roll-out of vectoring technology. The Commission supports the use of the technology, but said the networks regulator had set high barriers for alternative operators to participate in the new technology. The Commission warned that the BNetzA’s approach may not be able to prevent the re-establishment of a monopoly by DT on the last mile.

The commission also reiterated its stance that the federal government should sell its 32-percent stake in Deutsche Telekom soon, in order to resolve the conflict of interest resulting from the dual role of legislator and shareholder. The sale would also generate substantial funds, which could potentially be used to subsidise the broadband expansion in Germany.

Full content: Telecom Paper

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