The further development of the funding guideline includes a number of changes to optimize expansion and funding. This includes the industry dialog. The vast majority of German households and companies are expected to be connected by the telecommunications companies (TCUs) themselves. To improve coordination between local authorities and TCUs, the new directive provides for the implementation of industry dialogs. As a result, the private sector’s expansion potential will be explored in discussions with the local telecommunications industry before funding is granted. The basic gigabit directory and the potential analysis can serve as important instruments in the context of the industry dialog in order to enable targeted and efficient gigabit funding. The industry dialog can be dispensed with as part of the funding call for 2023. In principle, sector dialogs must be carried out before the market exploration procedure (MEV) and are a mandatory prerequisite for consulting services and infrastructure funding. Industry dialogues that have already taken place will be recognized as long as they did not take place more than six months before the launch of the MEV.
Flexibilization of the market exploration procedure
For funding, a market exploration procedure must be carried out in accordance with Section 4 of the gigabit framework regulation and taken into account in the application for approval at a provisional level. By making the market exploration procedure more flexible, private-sector expansion is to be ensured. The notification in the market exploration procedure obliges the TKU to develop the notified area within the next three years. In future, the TKU may make the expansion notification dependent on the achievement of a customary pre-marketing quota. If a market participant makes a binding expansion commitment dependent on the implementation of pre-marketing in this area or parts thereof, this notification must be taken into account. For sub-areas in a market exploration procedure for which there is no binding expansion notification, funding can be applied for independently of the conditional notification for the other sub-area.
If the start of pre-marketing is not proven within one month of the end of the reporting deadline in the MEV or if the quota is not reached and a negative report or no report is made by the TKU, the expansion obligation no longer applies and the area becomes eligible for funding. If the TKU submits a positive report on the result of the pre-marketing within seven months, the expansion obligation is realized.
The market exploration area must include all addresses in the municipal area that are to be considered for funding. Results from the sector dialog should be taken into account in the market exploration procedure so that the area for which a market exploration procedure is to be carried out can be reduced accordingly. The MEV is available for a period of at least eight weeks on the online platform of the responsible project management organization for comments for a period of at least eight weeks.
Control of funding
Another innovation: All applications are evaluated and ranked according to a nationwide list of criteria. This considers the “pent-up demand”, i.e. a particularly high proportion of white spots in the total number of addresses, the “use of synergies” with regard to the potential for expansion on a commercial basis and the subsidized expansion, “digital participation in rural areas” based on population density and “inter-municipal cooperation”.
Applications with a particular backlog based on the list of criteria are approved immediately (fast lane). All others will be granted on a subordinate basis by the deadline of 15.10.2023 – initially within the specified country ceiling – and approved (regular applications).
A total of three billion euros is available from the federal government this year. At least 100 million euros are available for applications from each federal state and 75 million euros for all three city states. The remaining funds will be distributed among the federal states according to the proportion of eligible connections.
Pick-up threshold
An area is eligible if it currently has no NGA network (white spot), or has an NGA network that does not currently provide a reliable data rate of at least 200 Mbit/s symmetrical or 500 Mbit/s download (gray spot) and the planned telecommunications infrastructure cannot reliably provide end customers with a data rate of more than 500 Mbit/s download within the next three years. The eligibility of socio-economic drivers is also explicitly mentioned in the new Gigabit Directive. These are private and public facilities that significantly shape and drive social and economic development, e.g. schools, airports and hospitals.
Since the start of the federal funding program, the federal government has already provided over 12 billion euros for broadband expansion projects. This has enabled over 3.4 million connections for companies, business parks, schools, hospitals and ports, among others. Over 12,000 schools and 250,000 companies are currently benefiting from the funding.
Documents for download:
Gigabit Directive 2.0 from 31.03.2023
https://aconium.eu/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/Gigabit-Richtlinie-des-Bundes-2.0.pdf
Calls for funding for infrastructure projects and list of criteria from 03.04.2023
https://aconium.eu/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/Aufruf-zur-Foerderung-von-Infrastrukturprojekten-fast-lane.pdf
https://aconium.eu/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/Aufruf-zur-Foerderung-von-Infrastrukturprojekten.pdf
https://aconium.eu/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/Anlage-Kriterienkatalog.pdf
Application aids for the market exploration procedure (MEV) from 03.04.2023
https://aconium.eu/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/final_MEV-Verbindlichkeitserklaerung-ohne-Vorvermarktung.pdf
https://aconium.eu/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/final_MEV-Verbindlichkeitserklaerung-mit-Vorbehalt-Vorvermarktung.pdf