New German broadband rule is challenged

Germany’s telecoms regulator has notified the European Commission on April 7, 2016 about its decision to allow Deutsche Telekom to exclusively use the vectoring technology on copper wires to provide high speed broadband connections in some areas. Thirteen German MEPs and the Minister of Rural Affairs and Consumer Protection of Baden-Württemberg have openly disagreed with this regulator’s decision. Their main concern is that Deutsche Telekom will have an unfair advantage. Despite the benefit of improved broadband access plus quick and low cost deployment, the vectoring technology is controversial. The technology requires an exclusive control of the telephone line copper infrastructure and the speed is only guaranteed over very short distances. The opponents anticipate that this technology will discourage investment into fibre optic infrastructure.