In a fragmented fibre market in Germany, altnets are still moving fast to build their businesses and not always by overbuilding
Energie Baden-Württemberg owned telco Plusnet is expanding its nationwide fibre optic footprint in Germany through an agreement with Hamburg-based fibreco Deutsche GigaNetz. As a result of the deal, Plusnet will gain access to around 500,000 marketable fibre-optic connections in 11 federal states served by Deutsche GigaNetz for its own business customer portfolio. The deal means Cologne-based Plusnet will deliver its internet access, cloud telephony and networking services to more areas.
“As an open access player, we are looking to collaborate with other infrastructure companies as part of our nationwide fibre optic strategy in order to gradually expand our marketable fibre optic network,” said Plusnet CEO Ulrich Hoffmann. “Through the agreement with Deutsche GigaNetz, we are taking the next step and helping to avoid uneconomical overbuilding and still create more competition.”
“Open Access is an important, strategic component in our corporate strategy to enable the highest possible utilisation while maintaining a variety of service providers on the networks we have built,” said Deutsche GigaNetz co-founder and managing director Soeren Wendler. “We are pleased to have Plusnet, an important partner with a focus on business customers, and to be able to provide fibre…as the infrastructure of the future to this target group.”
Open access fibre to prevent overbuild
Through the cooperation with Deutsche GigaNetz as well as agreements already made with other infrastructure partners such as Deutsche Telekom, Eurofiber and Glasfaser Nordwest, Plusnet said it has laid the basis for its own fibre optic network platform. In the future, the Cologne-based telco plans to use its Netbridge open access network to provide fibre optic networks from different providers nationwide into a virtual network and open it to all market participants via open access: an important lever for enabling local competition and sustainable business through efficient network utilisation in the fragmented fibre landscape in Germany – currently with around 170 network operators.
A new study by DIALOG CONSULT and the VATM found that by mid 2024, 45.9 million households in Germany will have access to Gigabit connectivity mostly thanks to altnets but they want a more certain regulatory and political environment to protect their investment.
Fourth-fifths (80%) of that increase is directly due to altnets that compete against the former incumbent, Deutsche Telekom (which uses the Telekom Deutschland brand within Germany). Altnets have a fibre take-up rate of 35.1% versus the Telekom Deutschland’s adoption rate of just 13% as it continues to sweat its vast copper assets.
Since April 2021, Plusnet has been consistently pushing forward its own fibre optic strategy and the modernisation of its own communication network from copper to fibre. The telco is investing in the development of its own fibre optic infrastructure and is also expanding its marketable fibre optic network through collaborations, which it believes will help avoid market-destroying overbuilds.
Pictured (from left to right): Soeren Wendler, co-founder and managing director of Deutsche GigaNetz, Ulrich Hoffmann CEO of Plusnet