Mayor accuses German fibreco of “targeted interference” and suggests to its rollout footprint was incomplete
Deep in the north of Baden-Württemberg, the regional centre of Mosbach would not be the first place you would expect a fibre row brewing. However, GlasfaserPlus GmbH just announced is putting its expansion plans for the municipality of Morsbach on hold. And the local mayor is not happy, which is a reminder that rolling out fibre is not always smiling officials with shovels and hardhats.
The joint venture between Deutsche Telekom and IFM Investors, an Australian fund manager, said is unable to implement the expansion due to a lack of cooperation from the local authority and the operator criticised the unnecessary use of taxpayers’ money. GlasfaserPlus had originally announced that it would supply more than 5,550 households in Morsbach with fibre on its own account – without using taxpayers’ money.
Since the expansion plans were announced, GlasfaserPlus said it has been met with a “negative attitude” from the municipality. From the outset, it said, the local authority made it clear that it preferred the subsidised expansion by competitor Muenet and rejected the expansion by GlasfaserPlus. It also argued that the approvals it requested to lay the network were not granted, while the competitor was able to start the expansion.
From GlasfaserPlus’ point of view, the question arises whether this behaviour is “compatible with the principle of competitive neutrality and the requirements of the Telecommunications Act”. As a result, the operator has decided not to pursue the expansion plans for Morsbach any further – even though it claims a large number of customers have already opted for a product on the GlasfaserPlus network. It added the contracts of customers who have already purchased a product on the GlasfaserPlus network will be cancelled.
Wallet appeal
GlasfaserPlus also argued that a self-financing expansion would have saved considerable tax money. It said although the municipality was already informed in 2022 of the intention to expand on its own and this intention was repeatedly reaffirmed in the following period, said municipality preferred to apply for federal and state funding for a not insignificant part of the addresses, which are now being used for the expansion.
In addition to these supra-regional funding pots, the municipalities contribute 10% of the funding amount, so that from GlasfaserPlus’s point of view “the budget of the municipality of Morsbach was unnecessarily burdened”.
No binding offer
Morsbach’s mayor Jörg Bukowski has hit bit at the operator, telling Radio Berg there was never a binding offer and that what Glasfaserplus is accusing the municipality of is simply not true. He said the operator never submitted plans to supply the entire Morsbach municipal area with fibre on its own. It was only about 2,000 households in the center at most. Otherwise, the municipality would have “signed immediately”.
His argument is that the aim of getting fibre is to expand the entire municipal area, not just central towns. In Morsbach, the fibre expansion is currently underway with the company Muenet and is expected to be completed this year. Bukowski said the criticism from the company GlasfaserPlus was “targeted interference”, adding that GlasfaserPlus had also confronted the town of Waldbröl with similar accusations.
Getting on with it
For its part, GlasfaserPlus, which recently appointed GVG Glasfaser’s COO Thomas Müller as its new chief technology officer, is getting on with its network rollout and Morsbach is more of a speed bump on its fibre highway.
“Our expansion in rural areas of Germany is progressing in great strides, and we are working flat out to reach four million households by 2030. We are committed to open access on our network, which conserves valuable resources and offers citizens a greater choice of providers and products,” said GlasfaserPlus CEO Ralf Gresselmeyer last week. He was speaking after the operator has signed a deal that would see VSE Net market the GlasfaserPlus network to its white-label partners.
EWR AG is the first company to have made a binding announcement that it will use this new partnership. Preparations are underway behind the scenes so that the company can also offer its ‘Herznet Fiber’ fibre tariffs in its supply area via the GlasfaserPlus network in the future.