Households in large countries, which have so far been largely cut off from the online world, still have to wait for a connection to the minimum service, despite the existing right to “fast” Internet. The Federal Network Agency (BNetzA) came to the conclusion in twelve cases by the end of March that there was an undersupply of telecommunications services under the Telecommunications Act (TKG). Although some of the classifications are more than nine months ago, the regulatory authority has so far not issued any orders to providers to remedy the shortcomings within the planned time frame.
Entries about “alleged undersupply”
This is from a now published Government response in response to a request from the CDU/CSU parliamentary group on the ordinance on the minimum requirements for the right to be provided with telecommunications services (TKMV). Between June 2022 and mid-April 2023, the BNetzA received 2,384 submissions about “alleged undersupply”. The majority comes from Lower Saxony (492), North Rhine-Westphalia (445) and Bavaria (415). 302 entries came from Baden-Württemberg and 152 from Rhineland-Palatinate.
Even before the TKMV came into force, the Bonn authority received reports of undersupply. Between December 1, 2021 and May 31, 2022, the number was 1037. In addition, 160 relevant entries were made during the entire period, which could not be assigned to a federal state due to insufficient address information.
Voluntary Commitment? None!
According to the information, between December 2021 and March 30, 2023, the BNetzA processed 1966 of the total of 3438 reports “conclusively, involving telecommunications companies” and bindingly with the result that they were unable to determine an undersupply, 1472 submissions were still in at the end of March found to be processed. Only in the dozen cases was the result that no provider could provide an appropriate Internet connection. These affect a total of 29 parcels. The assessment should never have referred solely to an upload data rate that was too low or a delay (latency) that was too high.
So far, no suitable company like Deutsche Telekom has voluntarily submitted a commitment to meet the claims of those affected, writes the leading Federal Digital Ministry. The regulatory authority has also not yet condemned any provider in second gear for fulfilling the requirement for a fast network. This is surprising, because the BNetzA had already announced in September that it had officially identified an undersupply in several households in several Lower Saxony areas around Bremen, Bremerhaven and Hamburg for the first time. The chief of the authorities, Klaus Müller, said at the time that it would now be a question of “establishing the necessary connections as quickly as possible”.
Legal Deadlines
The deadlines for this are actually clearly regulated by law: Telecommunications providers can initially contact the BNetzA voluntarily within one month to supply the affected households. If no company makes an offer, the authority should oblige one or more providers within four months at the latest to provide the affected households with a telecommunications connection and to offer associated services. In this respect, the regulator should have issued the first corresponding instructions at the beginning of March at the latest. The government only explains vaguely: “The procedures in which an undersupply has already been determined will be continued quickly.”
According to the TKMV, which came into force in June, the speed provided must be at least 10 Mbit/s for downloads and 1.7 Mbit/s for uploads with a maximum latency of 150 milliseconds (ms). These values are to be checked and adjusted annually. According to the legislator, the bandwidth must be sufficient to provide a minimum range of voice communication, i.e. telephone, and an Internet access service for appropriate social and economic participation. Obliged providers are required to create the conditions for the connection after three months at the latest. As a rule, the minimum offer should then be available within a further three months. According to the BNetzA, the specific time until the desired connection depends, for example, on “whether significant construction work is required”.
Months behind schedule
The executive cannot or could not keep other promises to the Federal Council. “The federal government wants to increase the minimum download bandwidth to at least 15 megabits per second and the minimum upload bandwidth as early as mid-2023,” read an assurance from the beginning of June. Among other things, “another report on the usage behavior of multi-person households should be commissioned so that its results can already be taken into account in the first evaluation of the TKMV by the end of 2022”.
According to the answer, the BNetzA has now advertised “various reports”. However, the results are not yet available. Only on this basis can the regulatory authority carry out a “legally secure evaluation” of the TKMV, adjust the specifications for the requirements for the Internet access service by way of a regulation procedure based on the TKG and put all the requirements of the TKMV to the test. Here the BNetzA is already months behind schedule.
(bme)
