Bundesnetzagentur requires provider to supply telecommunications services
Year of issue 2024
Date of issue 2024.03.11
The Bundesnetzagentur has today, for the first time, required a provider to supply a household in Lower Saxony with adequate internet and telephone services. The telecommunications services currently available there do not meet the minimum requirements.
"An acceptable internet and telephone service is essential for day-to-day life and work. Everyone has the right to an adequate supply. We're now using a test case to enforce this right in the interests of consumers,"
said President of the Bundesnetzagentur, Klaus Müller. "The figures defined in the ordinance are currently being carefully examined and may be adjusted in agreement with the Federal Ministry for Digital and Transport and the Bundestag digital affairs committee."
A consumer complaint led the Bundesnetzagentur to make the decision. The consumer's residence could only be supplied with internet at an excessively high price. The Bundesnetzagentur identified an undersupply on the basis of the statutory minimum requirements, which include the requirement for telecommunications services to be provided at an affordable price.
Following this finding, all the telecommunications providers active on the market had a month in which to offer a minimum supply. As no company came forward voluntarily to improve the situation, the Bundesnetzagentur opened proceedings to require the service provision. As part of this, it consulted several companies that already have infrastructure in the area, both operators of wired networks and providers of mobile or satellite internet.
The provider subject to the requirement now has to provide the consumer with a minimum supply of services in accordance with the values determined in the legislation, including a download rate of at least 10 megabits per second and an upload speed of at least 1.7 mbps. The one-way latency may be no more than 150 milliseconds. The provider must supply these services at a price that is affordable to the consumer, which the Bundesnetzagentur recently calculated to be about €30 a month.
Around 130 further complaint procedures are currently being assessed.
Right to be supplied with telecommunications services
The right to be supplied with telecommunications services has applied since December 2021. The ordinance on the currently applicable minimum supply figures has been in effect since June 2022. The Bundesnetzagentur is evaluating several expert reports on the minimum service requirements. As part of this evaluation, it is drawing up a report, which will form the basis for future adjustments to the Minimum Supply Ordinance. An amendment to the ordinance requires the consent of the Federal Ministry for Digital and Transport and the Bundestag digital affairs committee.
More information on the right to a telecommunications supply and the decision to require it may be found at www.bundesnetzagentur.de/rasi.