German ISPs to deliver on vectoring and G.fast for superfast broadbandGermany has one of Europe’s largest telecom markets, as befits a country with a population of more than 81 million. Penetration in the broadband and mobile sectors is about average for the region. Both the fixed network and broadband markets are dominated by Telekom Deutschland, though other notable players including freenet, Vodafone and Telefónica, have gained market share as the incumbent continues to rebound from a poor performance which has led to declining revenue since 2010.
Germany also has the second largest broadband market in Europe. The dominant DSL platform is led by Telekom Deutschland which has invested in network upgrades in recent years, with a focus of VDSL and vectoring technologies combined with fibre. The company has also trialled G.fast technology to add to the mix, and so provide a more economically feasible super-fast broadband product to meet the demands and timetable of the government’s national broadband targets by 2020. The strategy is also aimed at competing with cablcos, which by 2017 will begin deploying DOCSIS 3.1 networks and hardware capable of delivering data at up to 1Gb/s.
The mobile market is the largest in Europe, with about 118 million subscribers generating the largest proportion of revenue in the telecom sector as a whole. In common with most markets the main area of growth is in mobile data, with the number of mobile broadband subscribers having increased rapidly in recent years on the back of extensively available 3G and LTE networks. The market was long dominated by Telekom Deutschland and Vodafone Germany, though the acquisition of E-Plus by Telefónica has effectively created a triopoly of MNOs with relatively similar market share among them. There is also healthy market competition from an increasing number of resellers and MVNOs, which has placed pressure on voice and data tariffs, resulting in lower ARPU. Regulatory pressure on roaming charges and mobile termination rates have also eroded operator revenue, and encouraged them to step-up their development of data applications to improve profits.
These investments provide enormous potential for future growth, particularly given recent spectrum auctions which have enable operators to improve the reach and capabilities of their networks. As well as having refarmed digital dividend spectrum for mobile broadband use, the regulator auctioned additional spectrum in the 700MHz band in June 2015, paving the way for national mobile broadband coverage when this spectrum becomes available from 2017.
This report introduces the key aspects of the telecom market in Germany, providing comprehensive data on the country’s fixed network infrastructure as well as key regulatory developments including the status of interconnection, local loop unbundling, number portability, and carrier preselection. It also profiles the major operators, and details the development of Next Generation Networks. The report also provides statistics and analyses on the mobile market, including an overview of the main operators and their strategies for dealing with competition and emerging technologies in coming years. In addition, the report covers Germany’s fixed and wireless broadband markets, including analyses of developments with related technologies such as Fibre-to-the-Premises, powerline broadband, wireless broadband, Wi-Fi and internet via satellite.
Key developments:
Regulator decides on future bitstream access requirements;
Telecom market revenue showing continued contraction;
Telekom Deutschland trials tri-band LTE-A technology;
Regulator secures €5 billion from multi-band auction;
Vodafone and O2 report strong growth in LTE customer base;
Unitymedia drops KabelBW brand;
Sky acquires 87.4% of Sky Deutschland;
Tele Columbus launches mobile services;
Government adopts Digital Agenda 2014 - 2017 program to expand broadband services nationally by 2018;
Telekom Deutschland launches vectoring VDSL;
EC sanctions government’s €3 billion investment in national broadband infrastructure;
Report update includes the regulator’s market data for 2014, VATM market data updates for 2015, telcos’ operating and financial data to Q3 2015, recent market developments.Companies mentioned in this report:
Telekom Deutschland, BT Global Services, Tele2 Germany, Telefónica Germany (O2 Germany), United Internet, Vodafone, Tiscali, Freenet, Telefónica, QSC, Kabel BW, Kabel Deutschland, Unitymedia, PrimaCom, The Cloud, Energie Baden-Wurttemberg, E-Plus, CallMobile.
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1. Key statistics
1.1 Country overview
2. Telecommunications market
2.1 Recent developments
2.2 Historical overview
3. Regulatory environment
3.1 Historical overview
3.1.1 EU regulatory framework
3.2 Regulatory authority
3.2.1 Federal Network Agency (FNA, BNetzA)
3.3 Telecom sector liberalisation in Germany
3.3.1 Privatisation of Deutsche Telekom
3.4 Interconnect
3.5 Access
3.5.1 ATM bitstream access
3.5.2 Access and NGNs
3.6 Number Portability (NP)
3.7 Carrier PreSelection (CPS)
3.8 Wholesale Line Rental (WLR)
4. Fixed network operators
4.1 Market overview
4.2 Telekom Deutschland (Telekom, TD)
4.2.1 Operator overview and statistics
4.2.2 Structural review
4.2.3 Strategy
4.2.4 Sales and acquisitions
4.3 Vodafone
4.3.1 Operator overview and statistics
4.4 Freenet
4.4.1 Operator overview and statistics
4.5 Debitel
4.5.1 Operator overview and statistics
4.6 BT Global Services
4.6.1 Operator overview
4.7 Tele2
4.7.1 Operator overview and statistics
4.8 Telefónica
4.8.1 Operator overview and statistics
5. Telecommunications infrastructure
5.1 National telecom network
5.2 Next Generation Networks (NGNs)
5.3 International infrastructure
5.3.1 Terrestrial
5.3.2 Submarine cable networks
5.3.3 Satellite networks
5.4 Regulatory issues
5.4.1 Wholesaling
5.5 Cloud developments
6. Broadband market
6.1 Introduction and statistical overview
6.1.1 Market analysis
6.1.2 Government support
6.1.3 Government Broadband Strategy
6.1.4 Broadband statistics
6.1.5 Forecasts – fixed broadband subscribers – 2015; 2017; 2020
6.2 Hybrid Fibre Coax (HFC) networks
6.2.1 Cable market consolidation
6.2.2 Regulating cable access
6.2.3 Kabel BW
6.2.4 Kabel Deutschland (KDG)
6.2.5 Unitymedia (Kabel BW)
6.2.6 PrimaCom
6.3 Digital Subscriber Line (DSL) networks
6.3.1 ADSL2+
6.3.2 VDSL
6.3.3 Vectoring DSL
6.3.4 Telekom Deutschland
6.3.5 Versatel
6.3.6 United Internet
6.3.7 Vodafone
6.3.8 Tiscali
6.3.9 Freenet
6.3.10 Telefónica
6.3.11 QSC
6.4 Fibre-to-the-Premises (FttP) networks
6.4.1 Regulating fibre access
6.4.2 Telekom Deutschland
6.4.3 Other developments
6.5 Other fixed broadband services
6.5.1 Broadband Powerline (BPL)
6.5.2 G.fast
6.5.3 Fixed wireless
7. Digital media
7.1 Introduction
7.2 Business models
7.3 Key digital media players
7.3.1 Kabel Deutschland (KDG)
7.3.2 Kabel Baden-Württemberg (Kabel BW)
7.3.3 Tele Columbus
7.3.4 Unitymedia
7.3.5 Other operators
7.4 Digital Terrestrial TV (DTTV)
7.4.1 DVB-T2
7.4.2 Analogue switch-off
7.4.3 Digital dividend
7.5 Videostreaming
7.5.1 Telekom Deutschland
7.5.2 Telefónica Germany
7.5.3 Vodafone
7.5.4 Sky Deutschland
7.5.5 Other developments
7.6 Communications
7.6.1 Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP)
7.6.2 Voice over Digital Subscriber Line (VoDSL)
7.6.3 Voice over Cable
7.7 Satellite TV
7.7.1 Sky Deutschland
8. Mobile communications
8.1 Market analysis
8.2 Mobile statistics
8.2.1 General statistics
8.2.2 Prepaid cards
8.2.3 Operator market shares
8.2.4 Mobile voice
8.2.5 Mobile data services
8.2.6 Mobile broadband
8.3 Regulatory issues
8.3.1 Regulatory authority
8.3.2 Spectrum regulations and spectrum auctions
8.3.3 Roaming
8.3.4 Number portability
8.3.5 Fixed-to-mobile call charges
8.3.6 Mobile Termination Rates (MTRs)
8.3.7 Network sharing
8.4 Mobile infrastructure
8.4.1 Digital networks
8.4.2 Other infrastructure developments
8.4.3 Fixed-mobile convergence
8.5 Major mobile operators
8.5.1 Telekom Deutschland
8.5.2 Vodafone
8.5.3 E-Plus
8.5.4 O2 Germany
8.5.5 Mobile Virtual Network Operators (MVNOs)
8.5.6 Regional operators
8.6 Mobile content and applications
8.6.1 Mobile banking
8.6.2 M-payments
8.6.3 Machine-to-Machine (M2M)
8.6.4 Mobile Cloud
Table 1 – Country statistics – 2015 (e)
Table 2 – Telecom revenue and investment statistics – 2015 (e)
Table 3 – Telephone network statistics – 2015 (e)
Table 4 – Internet user statistics – 2015 (e)
Table 5 – Broadband statistics – 2015 (e)
Table 6 – Mobile statistics – 2015 (e)
Table 7 – National telecommunications authority
Table 8 – Telecom market investment: Telekom and altnets (regulator data) – 1998 - 2004
Table 9 – Fixed-line investments, Telekom and altnets – 2005 - 2015
Table 10 – New entrants’ market share of revenue, investment – 2008 - 2012
Table 11 – New entrants’ market share of subscribers by sector – 2008 - 2012
Table 12 – Telecom market revenue by sector – 2009 - 2013
Table 13 – Telecom market revenue by sector (VATM data) – 2009 - 2015
Table 14 – Telecom market revenue: Telekom and altnets (regulator data) – 1998 - 2004
Table 15 – Telecom market revenue: Telekom and altnets (regulator and VATM data) – 2005 - 2016
Table 16 – Telecom market investment: fixed and mobile (regulator data) – 1998 - 2013
Table 17 – Telekom Deutschland unbundled lines – 2008 - 2015
Table 18 – CPS, Call by Call and direct call traffic – 2007 - 2015
Table 19 – Altnet fixed voice traffic by type – 2009 - 2013
Table 20 – Historic - Fixed-line market revenue – 1998 - 2004
Table 21 – Fixed-line market revenue by type – 2005 - 2012
Table 22 – Fixed-telecom traffic, DT and altnets – 1998 - 2012
Table 23 – Fixed-telephony channels by type (VATM data) – 2006 - 2015
Table 24 – Competitor share of telephone channels (VATM data) – 1998 - 2012
Table 25 – Proportion of voice lines by sector – 2010 - 2013
Table 26 – Telekom Deutschland domestic revenue – 2009 - 2015
Table 27 – Telekom Deutschland domestic subscribers by sector – 2008 - 2015
Table 28 – Deutsche Telekom Group financial data – 2005 - 2015
Table 29 – Vodafone fixed-line revenue – 2005 - 2016
Table 30 – Freenet fixed network subscribers by sector – 2005 - 2015
Table 31 – Freenet financial data by segment – 2005 - 2015
Table 32 – Debitel subscribers data (historic) – 2004 - 2007
Table 33 – Debitel financial data (historic) – 2004 - 2007
Table 34 – Tele2 subscriber statistics by sector – 2007 - 2015
Table 35 – Tele2 revenue by sector – 2007 - 2015
Table 36 – O2 Germany subscribers by sector – 2007 - 2015
Table 37 – O2 Germany financial data – 2007 - 2015
Table 38 – Fixed lines in service by type – 2025 - 2015
Table 39 – Fixed lines in service by type – 2005 - 2013
Table 40 – Historic - Internet users and penetration rate – 1999 - 2004
Table 41 – Internet users and penetration rate – 2005 - 2016
Table 42 – Broadband subscriber lines by type – 2006 - 2015
Table 43 – Broadband subscribers by platform – 2001 - 2015
Table 44 – Narrowband internet traffic in minutes – 1999 - 2009
Table 45 – Broadband traffic, by year and average per connection – 2005 - 2015
Table 46 – Market share of broadband subscribers by provider – 2012 - 2015
Table 47 – Broadband penetration – 2001 - 2015
Table 48 – Broadband penetration by sector – 2007 - 2014
Table 49 – Broadband lines by data rates – 2005 - 2015
Table 50 – Proportion of broadband lines by data rates (VATM data) – 2007 - 2015
Table 51 – Broadband market share by data rates (regulator data) – 2010 – 2011; 2013
Table 52 – Share of overall fixed broadband lines by provider (regulator) – 2003 - 2013
Table 53 – Forecast fixed-line broadband subscribers – 2015; 2017; 2020
Table 54 – Cable broadband subscribers – 2000 - 2015
Table 55 – Kabel BW broadband and telephony subscribers (historic) – 2010 - 2011
Table 56 – Kabel BW financial data (historic) – 2006 - 2012
Table 57 – Kabel Deutschland financial data – 2008 - 2016
Table 58 – Kabel Deutschland subscribers by sector – 2007 – 2015
Table 59 – Kabel Deutschland RGUs by sector – 2007 - 2015
Table 60 – Kabel Deutschland blended ARPU – 2007 - 2015
Table 61 – Unitymedia Kabel BW broadband and telephony subscribers – 2006 - 2015
Table 62 – Unitymedia financial data – 2006 - 2015
Table 63 – PrimaCom financial data – 2013 - 2014
Table 64 – Proportion of DSL connections by provider – 2001 - 2013
Table 65 – Telekom Deutschland wholesale and resale lines – 2004 - 2015
Table 66 – Versatel financial data (historic) – 2008 - 2011
Table 67 – Versatel mass market subscribers (historic) – 2008 - 2011
Table 68 – United Internet financial data – 2007 - 2015
Table 69 – United Internet subscribers by type– 2010 - 2015
Table 70 – Vodafone fixed broadband subscribers – 2010 - 2015
Table 71 – Historic - Freenet subscribers by sector – 2005 - 2015
Table 72 – Historic - Freenet financial data by segment – 2005 - 2015
Table 73 – Telefónica (O2) broadband subscribers – 2007 – 2015
Table 74 – QSC financial data – 2006 - 2015
Table 75 – Households passed with fibre – 2007 - 2015
Table 76 – Satellite broadband subscribers – 2004 - 2015
Table 77 – Cable TV revenue – 1998 - 2013
Table 78 – Services based on cable TV connections – 2008 - 2013
Table 79 – Kabel Deutschland subscribers by sector – 2007 – 2015
Table 80 – Kabel Deutschland RGUs by sector – 2007 - 2015
Table 81 – Kabel Deutschland blended ARPU – 2007 - 2015
Table 82 – Kabel Deutschland financial data – 2008 - 2016
Table 83 – Historic - Kabel BW financial data – 2006 - 2011
Table 84 – Historic - Kabel BW cable TV subscribers – 2010 - 2011
Table 85 – Unitymedia Kabel BW TV subscribers – 2006 - 2015
