German telecoms giant Deutsche Telekom (DT) has announced plans to make an additional investment of up to EUR1 billion (USD1.1 billion) in its networks, and offer around six million more customers download speeds of up to 100Mbps, after telecoms regulator the Federal Network Agency (FNA) last week approved plans to enable the rollout of Vectoring technology in areas near local exchanges. DT, which provides fixed and mobile services in its domestic market via its Telekom Deutschland subsidiary, says it is committed to connecting all households in areas near local exchanges to high speed broadband and added that its binding investment undertaking was the basis on which the FNA specified the framework conditions for deploying Vectoring technology in areas near local exchanges. Under certain conditions, other companies can also connect customers in these areas, insofar as they also make similar investment commitments. Every company must ensure access for third parties, the conditions for which are still to be specified in a separate regulatory procedure. In July the European Commission (EC) accepted the FNA’s regulatory proposal on Vectoring, after it was revised to ensure competition is maintained.
‘I am pleased that the FNA has set out the framework conditions for rollout in areas near local exchanges. Fibre broadband rollout is important for consumers, particularly in rural areas,’ commented DT board member Niek Jan van Damme, adding: ‘We at DT want to make an important contribution to ensuring broadband is available as widely as possible. Our goal is to supply 80% of all households with high speed broadband.’
Meanwhile, DT has also revealed that its LTE customer base has exceeded the ten million milestone. The 4G network currently reaches around 91.4% of the German population.