10 Juni TKG Amendment Falls Short: Market Dominance Remains a Challenge for Fibre Rollout – Power Connections Continue to Hinder Mobile Network Deployment
Berlin, 10 June 2026. VATM believes that the draft amendment to the German Telecommunications Act (TKG), published today, requires further improvements in several key areas. In the association’s view, the transition from copper to fibre networks will continue to be significantly hampered by the market power of a single operator. At the same time, a major obstacle to mobile network expansion remains unresolved: the amendment still fails to prioritise power connections for mobile network sites.
“The TKG amendment presented an opportunity to rebalance the regulatory framework at a highly sensitive stage of market development. That opportunity has not been taken,” said VATM President Valentina Daiber.
Rather than addressing the challenging competitive situation in the fibre market through effective regulation of the dominant operator, the amendment retains an additional symmetrical access regime. In VATM’s view, this sends the wrong signal during a period of exceptionally high investment. What is needed instead is effective asymmetric regulation of the operator with significant market power.
VATM also believes that the provisions governing access to in-building telecommunications networks go too far. The draft risks turning what was intended as a targeted access instrument into a restrictive regulatory framework that is even more stringent than the version proposed in the earlier consultation draft. According to Daiber, this weakens investment incentives, undermines proven cooperation models and fails to adequately reflect the close interdependence between building connectivity and in-building wiring infrastructure.
The association is also critical of the proposed changes relating to the right to complete fibre deployment. While VATM supports the objective of accelerating network densification and in-building fibre rollout, the current draft continues to present significant risks despite the inclusion of safeguards intended to prevent the dominant operator from strategically reserving deployment areas without building them out. The right to complete deployment therefore requires clear safeguards and a coherent framework that properly aligns building connections with internal network deployment.
“With regard to mobile communications, the amendment fails to address one of the most significant practical barriers: securing power connections for mobile network sites,” said Daiber. “Without prioritised, predictable and timely grid connections, nationwide 5G coverage is unlikely to accelerate significantly over the coming years. The Federal Government’s decision to exclude this issue from the amendment and instead address it through separate grid connection legislation is another serious mistake.”
VATM welcomes the fact that copper switch-off measures will not be accelerated solely within Deutsche Telekom’s own fibre footprint. Copper retirement should not progress only in areas where the dominant operator has deployed fibre, but also in regions where alternative operators provide the target fibre networks. However, VATM notes that the draft still lacks a reliable mechanism enabling competitors to systematically trigger a review of potentially discriminatory switch-off practices.
The association also fundamentally welcomes the stronger measures aimed at preventing anti-competitive behaviour. “Companies that invest must be able to rely on a market that is not distorted by strategic conduct on the part of the dominant operator,” Daiber emphasised. Reliable competitive conditions are particularly important in light of the upcoming migration from copper to fibre networks.
“The draft contains a number of worthwhile objectives, but it does not yet achieve a sustainable balance between competition, investment protection and regulation,” Daiber concluded.
VATM is therefore calling for targeted improvements during the legislative process, including effective regulation where market power creates competitive distortions, alongside investment-friendly and abuse-resistant rules for in-building infrastructure. Only then can the TKG amendment fulfil its stated objective of genuinely accelerating network deployment rather than creating new uncertainties in key areas.
