13 Aug. Network connection package: Key gaps in mobile network expansion remain – power connections for new mobile network sites must be given mandatory priority and made predictable
Berlin, 29 July 2026. The VATM has responded with strong criticism to the network connection package adopted today by the Federal Cabinet. The draft bill fails to address one of the key practical obstacles to mobile network expansion: the often protracted and difficult-to-plan process of connecting new mobile masts to the electricity grid.
“The federal government is setting ambitious coverage targets, but is failing to provide sufficient planning certainty regarding a fundamental prerequisite for their implementation. Without a timely electricity connection, a new mobile network site cannot go into operation,” explains VATM President Valentina Daiber, Executive Director of Legal and Corporate Affairs at Telefónica Deutschland.
The regulation originally envisaged by the Federal Ministry for Digital and State Modernisation as part of the amendment to the Telecommunications Act (Section 134a TKG-E) was designed to be practical, featuring a site-specific right to information, priority connection and binding details on the timetable and costs. Responsibility for this regulation now lies with the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy. The government draft adopted today provides only for an obligation to provide information. “This approach is inadequate,” criticises Daiber. “Companies need to know where a connection is possible, when it will be established and what costs will be incurred. Only then can sites, investments and commissioning be planned reliably.” Whilst an obligation to provide information on available connection points, limited until 2036, may be a first step, it does not yet create reliable predictability for mobile network sites. Rather, all three elements from the amendment to the Telecommunications Act (TKG) must be fully enshrined in the Energy Industry Act. Furthermore, the general prioritisation rules do not oblige distribution network operators to connect mobile network sites as a priority.
“Anyone who declares the expansion of telecommunications networks to be in the overriding public interest must therefore also consistently apply this assessment when it comes to electricity connections,” demands Badiaa Bazarbacha, member of the VATM Executive Committee and Deputy Managing Director Germany at Vantage Towers AG. “The 99.5 per cent coverage target set by the Federal Network Agency from 2030 onwards will be a challenge without additional mobile phone sites being connected in a timely manner, particularly in remote and topographically challenging areas.” The current regulatory gap must therefore be closed through the parliamentary process, and the specific, time-bound right to information, priority connection, and reliable details on the implementation timeframe and costs must be enshrined in law.
“The solution is on the table. The Bundestag and Bundesrat must now incorporate it fully and in a practical manner into energy sector legislation,” demands Bazarbacha.
