Vodafone urges Germany to step up support for broadband deployment: Welt am Sonntag

BERLIN (Reuters) – Vodafone wants the German government to facilitate the deployment of high-speed fiber optic broadband connections to households and businesses by investing in the "last mile" of networks, said the head of the German company, quoted by l & # 39; agency.

Germany has been slow to expand its fiber optic network, raising fears that its vital export industry will lose its competitiveness, as sluggish Internet speeds could hamper manufacturing progress computer badisted.

"The last kilometer to the house is an extraordinary challenge," said Hannes Ametsreiter, head of Vodafone in Germany, to Welt am Sonntag.

"It is extremely expensive to tear the road down on your own," said Ametsreiter. "It would be better to do it like the Spaniards and the Portuguese, for example. The state is laying empty pipes, just as it builds highways – that is, state investment in infrastructure.

"Each supplier could then pull his cables through these pipes. It's more efficient. And that would fuel the competition.

When asked if the government reacted to Vodafone's proposal, Ametsreiter said, "I'm not aware of anything. But it can still come.

According to Ametsreiter, Vodafone aims to increase the number of German households with ultra-fast Gigabit connections from 11 million to 9 million over the next 12 months.

If Vodafone were allowed to take over Unitymedia, a Liberty Global unit, the number of connections would reach 25 million gigabits by 2022, said Ametsreiter.

Vodafone, the world's second-largest mobile phone company, agreed in May to pay $ 22 billion on Liberty Global's cable networks to the German and East European markets to challenge the dominance of former monopolies such as Deutsche Telekom.

The European Union has not raised any major concerns about the impact on the German cable market of Vodafone's purchase of Liberty Global's badets, sources told the company directly last month. the chances of success of the transaction.