Germany invests €100 billion in national gigabit internet network

Since its founding in 2014, Netzallianz Digitales Deutschland (Network Alliance for a Digital Germany) has brought speeds of 50 Mb and higher to 75% of German households. The gigabit network, which the consortium now plans to roll out, will mix technologies including fibre and 5G. Over an eight-year period, € 100 billion will be invested in order to realise a nationwide gigabit network by 2025. Besides bandwidth, speed and security are also considered essential.

 

“Developments including virtual reality and Internet of Things bring enormous data growth and the need for more bandwidth, reliable real-time transmission and intelligent networks," explained Alexander Dobrindt, Federal Minister of Transport and Digital services. “We need networks that autonomously process data, prioritize this and transport it to users as rapidly as possible.”

 

 

Speeding up deployment

 

Annually, the Ministry invests some € 4 billion to bring broadband to under-served regions. From 2018 onwards, this investment will be increased by some € 3 billion a year. Furthermore, Germany's education department has announced plans to invest € 5 billion over the next five years to provide schools and colleges with faster internet connections, Wi-Fi and tablets.

 

To accelerate Germany’s nationwide broadband deployment, Netzallianz are looking to utilize synergies and optimize the deployment process. This can be achieved by, for example, network sharing or obligatory broadband deployment in new construction projects. The DigiNetz Act adopted in November 2016 aims to realize this.

 

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