The new Telecommunications 2022 market study presented today by Dialog Consult and VATM shows great progress in the expansion of gigabit in Germany. Three quarters of German households will be able to book gigabit connections by the end of the year.
Broadband expansion in Germany is making progress. This is one of the key findings of the latest market study conducted by Dialog Consult and the VATM association. Prof. Dr. Torsten J. Gerpott, scientific advisor to the management consultancy Dialog Consult and holder of the Chair of Telecommunications Economics at the University of Duisburg-Essen, and VATM President David Zimmer presented the study online today. Some relevant figures are summarized below. According to the study, the number of newly built FTTB/H connections is increasing by 3.8 million and there are currently 38.1 million gigabit-capable connections available in Germany.
Investments and subsidies drive expansion – three quarters of Germans can book gigabit connections
The study proves that the expansion of fiber optics in Germany is growing steadily. By the end of 2022, three quarters of all households will be able to book a gigabit connection. In addition to funding from the federal government (EUR 12.8 billion from 2015 to the end of 2022, including around EUR 3.1 billion in 2022, in the federal broadband funding program (White Spots Program) and Gigabit (Grey Spots Program)), the federal states and municipalities, a lot of money is also coming from industry. This year, this sum has even reached a record level. Never before since the liberalization of telecommunications 25 years ago has so much money been invested: 11.6 billion euros. “Investors have discovered Germany for themselves,” confirms study author Prof. Dr. Torsten J. Gerpott. Thanks to the investments made by all parties involved, gigabit-capable networks will be available to three quarters of German households by the end of the year, with 38.1 million gigabit connections available. At 3.8 million, new construction of fiber optic connections to the house or apartment (FFTB/H) will reach a new high within a year.
Demand for high-speed Internet is growing – marketing is successful
In addition to the expansion, the marketing of gigabit connections is also progressing. Telekom continues to catch up in terms of fiber optic connections. However, competitors are still ahead in terms of the marketing quota with a good 30 percent. The number of available gigabit connections in broadband cable networks will increase by 200,000 to 25.8 million connections in 2022. Almost 60% of customers use bandwidths of 50 Mbit/s or more. Of these, 6.7 million already have very fast connections with bandwidths of more than 250 Mbit/s based on HFC or fiber optic networks and 2.2 million have even booked bandwidths of at least 1 Gbit/s. Among business customers, downstream bandwidths of 1 Gbit/s and more are in demand: almost one in four book their gigabit-capable connection at this top speed.
Further results of the study – data volumes are growing, 5G is coming
The telecommunications study also revealed other interesting findings. For example, people in Germany are using the internet more and more frequently. In the fixed network, the data volume will increase by a fifth year-on-year to around 122 billion gigabytes. In mobile communications, users will transfer a total of around 11 billion gigabytes in 2022 – almost half more than in 2021. At the end of the year, the 170 million threshold for active SIM cards will be reached in Germany. These figures from the study are also interesting: more and more SIM cards are being used to network machines: Their share is increasing by 5 percentage points to 33.4 percent. And 5G is unstoppable. The number of cards used for 5G has increased by more than a third to 11.7 million within a year.
Outlook with concern and confidence – rising prices noticeable
At the presentation of the study results, VATM President David Zimmer looked at the growing challenges for the telecommunications industry in light of the war against Ukraine and the energy crisis. “Digital infrastructures are among the lifelines of German society and the economy. It is therefore essential to prioritize energy supply,” said Zimmer, adding: “Rising energy prices and operating costs as well as the high inflation rate also affect our industry.” It is therefore foreseeable that there will also be price increases in the telecommunications sector in the foreseeable future. However, the industry’s willingness to invest, especially in the expansion of fiber optics, remains high, just as government subsidies will continue in 2023. The goal remains to make fiber optics available throughout Germany by 2030.
All results on the current state of the German telecommunications market can be found in the study by VATM and Dialog Consult, which can be downloaded here.