BNetzA also gives 1&1 more clarity on parallel selling while it transitions from Telefónica to Vodafone
German regulator, Bundesnetzagentur (BNetzA), has opened a consultation to extend existing mobile network operators’ spectrum licences in the 800MHz, 1800MHz and 2600MHz bands for five years to 2030. The move would come in place of holding a spectrum auction for frequencies expiring in December 2025.
Its latest framework follows industry feedback, comprising 17 submissions, in a previous consultation last year.
The move will impact Deutsche Telekom, Vodafone Germany and Telefónica Deutschland (O2). The regulator added that it will make a wider combined reallocation process decision by 2028 around the long-term provision of frequency usage rights from 2030, which would impact spectrum currently valid to 2033. Additional 2 x 50MHz spectrum in the 1,800MHz band is currently allocated for a limited period until the end of 2033.
The regulator said decisions on the 470 – 694MHz band will wait until the World Radiocommunication Conference 2023 (WRC-23) adjudicates on international allocations.
According to TeleGeography’s GlobalComms Database [subscription], Telekom Deutschland, Vodafone Germany and Telefónica Deutschland (O2) all have 800MHz and 2600MHz concessions expiring at end-2025 while Telekom and O2 also have portions of their 1800MHz allocations expiring at that date, with all three MNOs holding additional 1800MHz, 700MHz and 900MHz spectrum blocks expiring in December 2033 alongside 1500MHz licences held by Telekom and Vodafone.
New obligations
BNetzA has also proposed new mobile coverage obligations targeting rural areas, which would ensure each MNO provided 100Mbps mobile data services for at least 98% of households in sparsely populated areas in each federal state by 1 January 2029. The regulator said most households in Germany already have 100Mbps coverage but there are still large differences between urban and rural areas.
“Our primary objectives are improving coverage for all consumers and boosting competition. We are considering extending the current usage rights with the aim of providing sufficient planning and investment certainty in the short term,” said BNetzA president Klaus Müller (pictured, above).
“We want to place better mobile coverage in rural areas at the centre of our requirements. A specific coverage obligation for sparsely populated regions is intended to promote equal living conditions in urban and rural areas,” he added.
The regulator is also considering a coverage obligation for transport routes. Each MNO would be required to provide coverage with a transmission rate of at least 100Mbps for all major roads by the end of 2028 and coverage with at least 50Mbps for all minor roads and inland waterways of the federal core network. Only 0.1% (around 60km) of state and federal highways are currently not covered by at least one mobile network operator.
It added that mobile and railway network operators would therefore be subject to a cooperation requirement to ensure the upgraded railway mobile communication system would be effective for achieving gigabit coverage along railway lines.
Comments on the framework for the proposed interim decision can be submitted until 6 November 2023.
Service-based competition and national roaming
The regulator said it was also considering a range of measures for promoting “service-based competition to accompany the extension of usage rights”. These would include anything from a negotiation requirement to an offer requirement.
Another negotiation requirement it is pondering is an arrangement for national roaming. “This would accommodate the fact that the fourth network operator [1&1] would not have access to further spectrum for several years if usage rights were to be extended,” it stated in the consultation. The regulator was in separate discussions around this which 1&1 today provided an update on.
1&1 launches smartphone tariffs
1&1 Mobilfunk’s national roaming agreement with Vodafone means its customers can use 5G in places where there is no dedicated coverage during the roll-out phase of its new network. However, because it needs to offer marketable rates in the transitional period between the imminent launch of 4G-based mobile services (with Telefónica roaming) and the planned provision of 5G roaming (by Vodafone) from summer 2024, 1&1 will provide new 5G customers with transitional tariffs based on 5G MVNO wholesale services from Vodafone.
4G tariffs will be produced by 1&1 itself on its network, using Telefónica’s national roaming. This parallel sales operation has been given the green light by BNetzA until the end of 2023. The regulator will then make a decision in November about the timing of its MVNO operations given it is not meant to be an MVNO on a competitor network as things currently stand.
1&1 said it will now await this decision and offer mobile 4G services on its own network from December 2023 (previously planned for September), as well as 5G tariffs based on Vodafone MVNO wholesale services on a transitional basis until summer 2024.
“We have been campaigning for several years to also get the usual 5G standard for national roaming. Unfortunately, this was not possible within the framework of the Telefónica roaming contract,” said 1&1 CEO Ralph Dommermuth. “Now we are launching our mobile services in December in the first step with 4G and offering new customers 5G rates on a transitional basis in the proven MVNO business model.”
He added: “From next summer, we will then have 5G available in the new national roaming with Vodafone and, in parallel, will activate the mobile 5G functions in our network. At this time, we are discontinuing the parallel marketing of 5G MVNO tariffs.”
In the meantime, 1&1 continues to build its Open RAN network. By the end of this month, the operator expects to have around 110 decentralized data centres and around 500 antenna sites that can be shared as part of so-called co-location for the installation of 5G antennas and connection to fibre. In addition, approximately 300 lease agreements for new antenna sites should be in place by then. 1&1’s core network has already been interconnected with all national and international networks.