telecommunications
Mobile phone network operators face sanctions for “blank spots”
According to a 2019 requirement, German cell phone network operators must close “white spots” in 500 areas by the end of the year. photo
© Christoph Soeder/dpa
Germany’s mobile phone networks are getting better. But when it comes to combating “blank spots” in the 4G radio standard, the industry is slower than required.
The pressure on Germany’s network operators is increasing to close 4G dead spots as quickly as possible. At a meeting of the Advisory Board of the Federal Network Agency, it became clear that the goal of closing 500 such “white spots” by the end of the year will probably be missed. Federal Network Agency President Klaus Müller called the interim status “unsatisfactory”. Advisory board members from several parliamentary groups spoke out in favor of sanctions against the companies in the event of clear misconduct. In each of 167 areas, the three operators must enable downloads of at least 100 megabits per second. According to the latest figures, nobody is likely to do that.
The obligation to expand comes from the 2019 frequency auction. Since then, the telecommunications providers have by no means been idle. The companies will probably meet large parts of the requirements – for example the requirement to reach 98 percent of households in every federal state with good mobile communications (i.e. at least 100 Mbit/s). A Telekom spokesman points out that the Bonn-based group has already built 4,800 new cell phone sites since 2019 and “massively improved” the cell phone network. Vodafone and O2 also invested heavily in their networks.
White patch requirement is probably not met
However, the white stains requirement will probably be torn – at least if the obligation is tied to the number 500. According to the telecommunications industry, it could also meet this requirement with a lower value. “According to current planning, we will meet the supply targets according to the specifications of the Federal Network Agency wherever we are not prevented from doing so by external influences,” says a Vodafone spokesman, for example. In other words, in some places it wasn’t our fault.
Vodafone is currently at “more than 30” closed white spots, by the end of the year it should be a three-digit number – so it’s progressing quickly. The company primarily relies on mobile stations as interim solutions. Telekom wants to have eliminated 44 “white spots” by the turn of the year; at the beginning of November there were only 28. A further 24 radio stations in the white spots are under construction.
Telefónica Deutschland (O2) reports that the requirement has now been met in 55 areas. At the beginning of November there were 45. A Telefónica spokesman points out that in almost all of the 500 areas it is not possible to achieve 100 megabits per second, but by optimizing adjacent locations “a powerful mobile network coverage via 4G/LTE has already been established”.
Difficult location search, lengthy approval procedures
From Telekom’s point of view, the “temporary non-reach” of the number 167 at the turn of the year does not mean that the edition will not be reached. According to the company spokesman, the difficult search for a location and lengthy approval procedures play a decisive role. Unfortunately, the list of authorities coordinated with the federal states with the location of the white spots was only available at the end of 2021. Finding and renting locations – if you can get them at all – takes an average of seven months, and approvals take eight to twelve months. The reasons for each individual location will be disclosed to the Federal Network Agency.
The set of rules for the frequency requirements contains the exception possibility that network operators can deviate from the specifications if the construction was not “legally and actually” possible. This can be the case, for example, if no property owner agrees to rent it out in an area and therefore no mobile phone mast can be built.
Netzagentur will examine each case
The three network operators will probably announce at the beginning of January that they have managed less than planned, but that there are good reasons. After that, the network agency will review each case. And what if the reasons are found to be unfounded? Then the authority should use “their toolbox,” says Maik Außendorf, a member of the Greens in the Bundestag. “Should individual examinations show that there was no plausible third-party debt, fines or penalty payments should be imposed.”
Federal Transport Minister Volker Wissing (FDP) had already made a similar statement in the run-up to the Advisory Council meeting, and Advisory Council member Reinhard Houben (FDP) also takes this stance. “In individual cases it may be that a new radio mast was simply not possible,” says the member of the Bundestag. “But it shouldn’t be a large number of white spots – that would then be a problem that the Federal Network Agency should tackle hard.”
Durz calls for “staggered sanction options”
The CSU member of the Bundestag, Hansjörg Durz, is also in favor of a tough approach. “Only if non-compliance with coverage requirements has noticeable consequences for companies will they also be taken seriously in future frequency awards,” he says, and calls on the network agency to develop “staggered sanction options”.
Another condition of the frequency auction will not be reached under any circumstances. Because the designated cell phone network operator 1&1, which bought its own spectrum for the first time in 2019, actually has to put 1,000 of its own antenna sites into operation by the turn of the year. As early as September, 1&1 announced that it would not be able to achieve this interim goal due to supply bottlenecks at a commissioned infrastructure company. “In order to close the resulting gap as quickly as possible, we are in close contact with our other expansion partners,” said 1&1 on Monday. The aim is to achieve the interim goal in the summer of 2023.