The gears of fiber optic expansion are faltering. Telekom, for example, has recorded a significant decline in the installation of corresponding access lines. The mobile communications giant blames the problem on the icy temperatures in recent weeks.
Telekom cannot maintain speed
It is a real prestige project for politicians – the so-called broadband expansion. Regardless of whether it’s a big city or a small, remote province. Fast Internet should be available throughout Germany at all times. And it is high time. After all, Germany is not only regarded by experts as a real developing country when it comes to stable and fast Internet. The German government commissioned none other than Deutsche Telekom with the expansion. And it has actually done a pretty good job so far. At least that’s what the figures from December 2023 suggest. In this month alone, the mobile phone and internet provider added 380,000 new connections. In total, more than 8 million German households are now able to book a tariff with a fiber optic connection.
The damper followed immediately the next month. In January 2024, there were only around 53,000 connections in total. In a public statement on February 28, 2024, Telekom blamed the sharp decline on the challenging weather conditions. It was simply too cold to lay the connections. As the work is primarily civil engineering work, this is perfectly understandable. After all, experience has shown that it is difficult to carry out such work when the ground is frozen. Should the weather return to mild temperatures, we are cautiously optimistic that the work will be accelerated.
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Other providers are also welcome
If you have a fiber optic connection that was built by Telekom, this does not mean that you have to sign a contract with the provider. On the contrary, the company sees itself as the most important player when it comes to open access. According to Jean-Pascal Roux, head of sales for Telekom’s fiber optic division, it is possible for almost 30 other providers to use the existing connection. No other company in this sector is so open.
