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The German broadband market is currently focused on an aggressive transition from older Digital Subscriber Line (DSL) infrastructure to high-speed fibre optic services. This transition is being driven by a combination of commercial necessity and increasing regulatory demand for transparency.
Vodafone Germany is taking commercial action to actively encourage this technology shift. The company has launched a new set of aggressive fibre tariffs from 26 October, aiming to boost the uptake of faster broadband, a strategic priority for the country’s Digital Ministry. The move is crucial for Vodafone, as its German operations—the group’s largest market—have been a financial drag, partly due to customer churn following a regulatory change that granted tenants the right to choose their broadband provider in multi-tenant dwellings. The company previously acknowledged that “Slowing growth in Germany’s fixed broadband market may affect overall performance” in its most recent quarterly earnings report.
The new GigaZuhause (GigaHome) fibre offers are designed to make the switch from DSL highly attractive for the more than 10 million German households that can access them. Vodafone is increasing value by delivering higher speeds for the same price. New download bandwidths will be 150Mbps, 300Mbps, and 600Mbps (up from 100Mbps, 250Mbps, and 500Mbps respectively), along with up to three times higher upload speeds. In a further incentive, the price for the fastest gigabit tariff, GigaZuhause 1000, will be reduced by €10. The flexibility to downgrade without penalty after six months is intended to remove a key barrier to customer adoption of higher-tier services.
However, the push to accelerate the fibre switch is simultaneously being checked by regulatory action demanding honesty in marketing. This week, the Koblenz Regional Court ruled that ISP 1&1 misled customers by promoting its fibre-to-the-curb (FTTC) connections as full fibre optic services. The court banned the use of deceptive terminology, such as “fiber optic DSL,” which it found created a false impression of a fibre-to-the-home (FTTH) service.
This ruling is highly significant, emphasising that while FTTC is faster than traditional DSL, it still relies on copper cables for the final connection to the home, a segment that “falls short of FTTH’s gigabit potential without signal degradation over copper.” The court’s insistence on “clear and unambiguous” advertising sets a precedent across the EU, compelling providers to be precise about their network’s final-mile technology.
For the B2B community, these developments underline that the German fibre transition requires a dual strategy: not only must providers offer compelling commercial incentives to migrate customers away from DSL, but they must also invest in true FTTH infrastructure to support their speed claims and avoid regulatory penalties for misleading advertisements.
Zvezdana Lazic-Latincic, Vice President, Fibre & Connectivity Delivery,1&1 Versatel is speaking on a panel on Accelerating network deployment in Germany at Connected Germany. Alongside her are Frederic Ufer, VATM; Benjamin-Georg Ernst-Treffer, Tele Columbus Netz; and Jakob Kwiatkowski, Deutsche Glasfaser. Come and join the at the event, book your place at www.totaltele.com/connectedgermany
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