Having found no clear examples of anti-competitive behaviour by Deutsche Telekom, altnets will need to give the regulator sufficient reason to consider any future investigations
The Government and regulator established a dedicated unit to monitor fibre overbuild and its impact on altnets’ network expansion
On 30 July 2025, Germany’s Federal Network Agency (BNetzA) published its final report on the monitoring of duplicate fibre infrastructure projects – i.e. overbuild. Specifically, the report comes from a unit established by the regulator and the Federal Ministry for Digital Transformation (BMDS) in July 2023 to keep a “systematic and continuous record” of overlapping fibre rollouts, with a view to answering the question of to what extent strategic duplicate fibre investment (by Deutsche Telekom) could be used to prevent altnets from deploying their own networks. In April 2024, the monitoring unit published an interim report, revealing that duplicate rollouts exist both across Germany and in various “competitive constellations”, as well as detailing the market position of the operator overbuilding its rivals. However, BNetzA considered that further information was still required to perform a reliable competitive assessment of the market.
After two years, the unit’s final report found little evidence of operators strategically announcing rollouts and then not following through
The final report is based on 539 cases of duplicate fibre infrastructure that were notified up to and including 1 July 2025, which the monitoring unit has used to create a comprehensive picture of network rollouts, including any possible barriers to competition. However, continued monitoring through 2024/2025 did not lead to any further insights beyond those highlighted in the interim report, in particular relating to possible cases of “empty” fibre deployment plans. The monitoring results remained steady, “even when taking the extended time perspective of a good year into account”. Overall, the unit found that:
It was “extremely rare” that a second operator did not fulfil its duplicate fibre deployment as announced (i.e. an empty announcement). This was irrespective of whether the second operator was Deutsche Telekom or one of its competitors; and
Deutsche Telekom: was more likely than other network operators to start its deployment in close proximity to a commercial launch by a competitor acting first; or often only deployed infrastructure in the most commercially viable areas.
These assessments, however, were based solely on information provided by stakeholders participating in the monitoring activities. BNetzA considers that robust conclusions cannot be drawn from this information alone.
BNetzA has shuttered the monitoring unit, but not ruled the prospect of Deutsche Telekom behaving anti-competitively
The report also includes the results of seven individual cases examined by BNetzA’s Ruling Chamber 3 following references made by the monitoring unit. The chamber, which acts as a direct contact and review body for allegations of abuse of competition, found no systematic abusive behaviour by Deutsche Telekom, but added that the concern of reactive behaviour that unfairly restricts altnets’ options could not be completely ruled out. It also stated that fibre deployments from multiple providers is desirable but that assessments of the potential abuse of market power in the duplicate rollout of fibre networks must be conducted on a case-by-case basis and grounded in local conditions. On the basis of the conclusions of the final report and of Ruling Chamber 3, BNetzA has decided to close the monitoring unit. According to Klaus Müller (President, BNetzA), any additional examinations would need to be “adequately supported by facts", seemingly setting a fairly high bar to the chamber instigating any proceedings in the future.
