The German Fibre Rollout Is Moving Into the Building – Shifting the Legal Focus Areas

For FTTH / FTTB investors, homes passed (𝐇𝐏) are not enough. The value of an existing fibre network and of its further rollout depends more on whether HP can be connected and activated without having to reopen access discussions with each building owner. Access to private land, buildings and in-building infrastructure has, therefore, become focus-area in the German fibre rollout instead of public rights of way, civil works and potential overbuild risks. Three TKG provisions matter in this respect:

Section 134 TKG can limit objections by private landowners to telecoms lines and building connections. Section 145 TKG helps with network termination and access to existing in-building infrastructure. It is not, however, a general long-term asset-vesting right for the infrastructure owner.

The proposed Section 144 TKG-E is the more important signal (Link here). If adopted in its current format, it would support full in-building fibre rollout where usable in-building fibre is missing.

That would shift the discussion: Building access agreements, WEG coordination, routing, damage rules, documentation and ownership provisions would still need to be considered. But the debate would move from whether a building can be upgraded to how the upgrade is done. An important investor question may therefore no longer be just:

“𝐃𝐨 𝐰𝐞 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐞𝐧𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡 𝐇𝐏?” It may also be: “𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐢𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐚𝐭𝐡 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐁𝐄𝐏 𝐭𝐨 𝐎𝐍𝐓?”

𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 F𝐨𝐥𝐥𝐨𝐰𝐬 𝐟𝐨𝐫 I𝐧𝐯𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐬

The contractual documentation needs clear rules on access, routing, ownership, documentation, maintenance, replacement, step-in rights and transferability. Without bearing these in mind, an attractive HP footprint can quickly turn an existing fibre network into a weaker asset.