Open Infra and Deutsche Glasfaser also join the initiative to bring gigabit broadband to the entire capital by 2028
Vodafone and OXG are to pass up to 900,000 households in Berlin at a cost of up to €1 billion. The expansion will begin this year and was announced by Franziska Giffey, Berlin’s Senator for Economic Affairs, Energy and Public Operations, Stefan Rüter, Chief Commercial Officer of OXG Glasfaser, and Michael Jungwirth, who sits on the board of Vodafone Germany. They are pictured from left to right above.
This expansion was agreed in a Memorandum of Understanding signed by both companies and the senator in August 2023.
OXG is a fibre joint venture between Vodafone and Altice, founded in March 2023. Its mission is to invest up to €7 billion to pass up to 7 million premises across Germany by 2030. Its open infrastructure allows other service providers to provide retail broadband services.
The build-out in Berlin will begin in the Tempelhof-Schöneberg district. Initially Vodafone will handle the marketing and provision of telephony, broadband and TV services.
Today two more companies announced they will join the fibre build out in Berlin. Open Infra is a Swedish company with headquarters in Brandenburg. It will deploy 50,000 fibre connections in the city; planning is underway in the Steglitz-Zehlendorf area.
Deutsche Glasfaser also intends to lay 50,000 fibre connections in the city.
Berlin’s fibre strategy
Berlin’s gigabit strategy was announced in June 2021. The intention is to offer every household in the city fixed gigabit connectivity, supplied either by Hybrid Fibre Coax or FTTP, or both. Also, all households, companies and above-ground transport routes are to be covered by 5G by 2025.
Since March 2022, implementation has been coordinated by the Senate Department for Economic Affairs, Energy and Enterprises working with strategic partners which are funding the deployment.
The three expansion projects announced today are in addition to the plans for 3.5 million fibre connections. The nine companies already involved are: Colt Technology Services Deutsche GigaNetz, DNS:NET Internet Service, Deutsche Telekom, GlobalConnect, Tele Columbus, 1und1 Versatel, Vattenfall Eurofiber and Vodafone Deutschland as a single entity.
Senator Giffey said, “We are working on making Berlin the number one location for innovation in Europe. An excellent digital infrastructure is essential for our 2.2 million households and companies. We are already achieving peak values for gigabit and 5G coverage, but we also want to be at the forefront of the nationwide fibre optic supply.”
Playing catch-up
She said that fibre coverage in the German capital doubled last year to reach 34%; the plan is complete FTTP coverage by the end of 2028. In line with the European Union’s Germany’s overall strategy is that half of all premises should have access to full-fibre broadband by the end of 2025 (in urban and rural areas) and the entire country by the end of 2030.
Germany ranked thirty-fifth among 38 countries worldwide for fibre connections compared to fixed broadband ones it has installed, according to OECD statistics from June 2022.
At that time, only 8.11% of the country’s fixed broadband connections were full-fibre. South Korea, Japan and Spain had 10 times that many.
Michael Jungwirth, Member of the Management Board at Vodafone Germany, added, “Gigabit must not be a privilege for residents of densely populated inner cities. With the expansion measure announced today, we are setting an example with fast internet in the outskirts of Berlin.”
Stefan Rüter, Chief Commercial Officer of OXG Glasfaser, stated, “The declaration of intent that has already been signed is the basis of our cooperation and symbolises our joint, partnership commitment to the large-scale fibre-optic expansion in Berlin. What is special for owners and residents is that the OXG fibre optic connection is free of charge [no public funding] and we are expanding without reaching a pre-marketing ratio.”