28 Juli Fibre Roll-out and Low Take-up? A Shared Challenge for Industry, Government and Regulators
VATM warns against drawing the wrong conclusions from current market pressures – competitive providers remain the key driver of fibre deployment
Cologne, 28 July 2026. Rising deployment costs, low customer take-up and lengthy payback periods are placing increasing pressure on companies that have invested billions of euros in next-generation networks. Recent analyses, including the latest study by PwC, confirm trends that VATM has highlighted for years. „However, it would be wrong to suggest that fibre deployment has come to a standstill,“ said VATM Managing Director Dr Frederic Ufer. „The market and its business models continue to offer considerable potential. Over recent months, network operators have secured financially strong, long-term investors.“ Earlier this week, Westconnect also secured an additional €1.2 billion in fresh capital for fibre deployment.„This demonstrates that the financial markets have confidence in Germany’s fibre roll-out,“ Ufer added. „To maintain that confidence, the sector needs stable political and regulatory conditions, together with a significantly higher take-up rate.“
Many households continue to rely on legacy copper networks even where fibre broadband is already available. As a result, a substantial proportion of newly built infrastructure remains underutilised. This creates a difficult commercial situation for network operators: the significant capital investment is incurred during construction, while revenues depend on achieving sufficient customer demand. „Where fewer than 15% of potential customers in deployment areas subscribe to fibre broadband, this is simply not enough to support the economics of such capital-intensive investment,“ said Ufer.
However, the current market situation should not be interpreted as evidence that competition is failing. „Companies are continuing to build, attract strong investors and extend fibre networks directly into buildings and homes,“ Ufer emphasised. Reducing competition or strengthening the former incumbent would therefore be the wrong policy response. „Weakening competitive operators would jeopardise both investment and consumer choice, and would bring fibre deployment to a halt across large parts of the country.“
Cooperation is already an established feature of a competitive market
Claims that cooperation and open network access are not working also fail to reflect market reality. Many alternative network operators already rely on Open Access, wholesale agreements, joint marketing initiatives and reciprocal use of network infrastructure. These arrangements improve network utilisation while giving consumers a wider choice of providers. Competitive operators have a strong commercial incentive to maximise utilisation of the networks they have built through partnerships with other providers. Operators that choose to isolate themselves from the market are unlikely to succeed.
The Telecommunications Act amendment must provide certainty rather than create new uncertainty
„Companies will continue to drive fibre deployment, and investors remain confident in the strength and long-term potential of the sector. The amendment to the Telecommunications Act must now provide planning certainty,“ Ufer urged. Approval procedures and network deployment processes must be accelerated, while cooperation between market participants must be made easier in practice. Introducing new regulatory uncertainty would disproportionately affect the very companies that have driven deployment to date. „Above all, the legislation must not provide additional protection for the market-dominant operator at the expense of competition.“
VATM is calling for long-term, predictable and competitively neutral rules governing the migration from copper to fibre networks, improved access to buildings and private property, and fair conditions for using existing infrastructure. „One of the most effective ways to stimulate demand is to provide a clear timetable for the switch-off of the copper network,“ explained Ufer. „Without a visible transition date, customers have limited incentive to migrate. A clear target provides certainty for everyone involved.“ The transition must be transparent, non-discriminatory and supported by a binding, competitively neutral migration plan. The migration process must not be driven solely by the commercial interests of Deutsche Telekom.
Public funding should also stimulate demand
Alongside funding for network deployment, policymakers should also consider demand-side measures. In areas where fibre broadband is available but customer take-up remains low, financial support for household connection costs could provide an effective incentive.
„Where low subscription rates threaten future network deployment, public policy should also address demand,“ said Ufer. „From an economic perspective, it makes far more sense to maximise the use of existing fibre infrastructure than to continue operating an outdated copper network.“ In many other sectors of the economy, including solar energy, heat pumps and electric mobility, governments actively stimulate demand through targeted financial incentives. The same approach should now be reconsidered for fibre broadband deployment.
