On December 12th , 2011 the Federal Ministery of Economics and Technology and the Ministery for Economics, Employment and Traffic of Lower-Saxony invited to the conference “Broadbandpolicy in Germany and Europe” in the representation of Lower-Saxony in Brussels. 80 invited guests from the fields of policy, economics and science informed themselves and discussed about the access to high-speed broadband-infrastructures as a central pre-condition for economic growth in Germany and Europe. The atene KOM GmbH participated in the framework of its tasks as Federal Broadband Agency.
The German government as well as the federal states aim at the goals to make fast, nation-wide and effective broadband-access available via a competitive approach. It was discussed, how the development of new networks can be supported in Germany and Europe and how to set new impulses to strengthen economic growth.
After a welcome by Jörg Bode, Minister for Economics, Employment and Traffic of Lower-Saxony and a keynote speech with the title “New impulses of the German broadband strategy also for the EU?” the European perspective of this challenge was put to the spotlight by Robert Madelin, general director of the European Commission. He underlined that national broadband strategies should be integrated into the vision of the EU of a single digital market. Member states were encouraged to connect strategies for healthcare and education to the respective broadband strategy. By chosing this way synergies could be used better and additional value will be generated. The EU supports the competitive approach for the development of broadband infrastructure which kann only be done from bottom-up. The program „Connecting Europe“, which is currently under planning, shall give additional impulses to that. Mr Madelin complimented to the open discussions in Germany, especially between federal states, which for him are a best practice example as well.
Dr. André Wiegand from Goldmedia GmbH presented solutions of the EU member states France, Italy, Portugal and the UK in his impulse statement “Best practices – lessons to learn from European Member States?“. Different legislative tools were shown, as for example the mandatory installation of multi-fibres in new or during the renovation of buildings in France or the obligation in Portugal to document passive infrastructure in an open-access database.
A panel discussion was the last point on the agenda. Statements from the discussion are shortly reflected in the following paragraphes:
Armin Emrich (Roland Berger Strategy Consultant GmbH) pointed out that a still huge and unused potential of synergies is existent regarding the use of tracks of the Deutsche Bahn AG and the highways in general. Next to e.g. PPP models, a vision such as the Gigabyte City are helpful for a sustainable implementation.
Wolfgang Kopf (Chief of Policy and Regulation, Deutsche Telekom AG) accented the feasibility of the 50 Mbit/s goal of the German government and the necessity of the existence of GAK- and EFRE-funds to explore into the last “white spots”. LTE for him is a timely limited but welcome interim-solution for rural areas.
Dr. Christoph Clément (Member of the executive board, Kabel Deutschland) presented the connecting rates for 100 Mbit/s access points in rural areas (2.2 Mio.) and stressed that not every house could get connected with fibre within the framework of broadband development. Possible solutions for example could be the connection of public offices with high-speed internet that is open for and could be used by the general public. Dr. Rainer Fechner (CEO Alcatel-Lucent) pointed out the importance of the technological competition for the further development of different technologies and the fact that new business models can only be developed if the respective technology is ready for usage. Also the content should be beard in mind to involve the general public in the process. ind (Example Portugal: pay per view soccer-offers via broadband).
In general the EU wishes for open-access net-infrastructures and the use of forward-looking technologies. In the future the focus of planners should also be given to the upload rate. Also formal guidelines of the EU, like the guideline for energy efficiency, would be welcome in the frame of the broadband policy, for example a formal guideline for laying “empty pipes” during the construction or refurbishment of buildings.
Stefan Kapferer (state secretary, BMWi) brought up the EU 2020 guideline for Smart Metering. Sweden is leading regarding the implementation of it. The discussion in Germany is slowed down due to the major concerns regarding data privacy protection of many citizens which have to be taken seriously.
The channelization of the broadband development and of the various interests also taking into account the stakeholders of the energy u-turn (energy producer as well as energy providers)is in all cases a benefit for the national economy.
More information on the broadband development can be found on our homepage as downloads.
Contact: Dr René Daszenies, kontakt@breitbandbüro.de