The Federal Ministry for Digital and Transport (BMDV) has published new figures on fiber optic expansion in Germany. According to the figures, 32.1% of households are covered by fiber optics. The data comes from the Federal Network Agency (BNetzA) as of December 2023 and is recorded in the Broadband Atlas (www.bundesnetzagentur.de/breitbandatlas). It shows which bandwidths and technologies are available for data transmission at federal, state and municipal level. Over 380 telecommunications companies provide their expansion data for this.
Federal Minister Volker Wissing sees the new figures as an important step towards fulfilling the digital strategy: “The expansion of fiber optics continues to make rapid progress. High-performance fiber optic technology is now available to every third household. This is a significant step towards our goal of providing all households and companies with high-performance Internet connections by 2030. This positive development shows that the measures in our gigabit strategy are taking effect. For far too long, fiber optic expansion was not given the necessary priority to live up to our claim of being an economic and technological leader in Europe and worldwide. We have successfully changed course and are pleased with our initial successes, but we are not resting on our laurels. In the digital age, fast, stable and resilient digital infrastructures are the basis for economic growth and social prosperity.”
In the last survey in mid-2023, the fiber optic coverage of households was still 28.2%, compared to 18.2% at the start of the gigabit strategy in summer 2022. Overall, gigabit networks based on fiber optic and upgraded TV cable networks (HFC) are available to 74.8% of households.