Taken from The Broadband Coverage in Europe 2023 Report - a study prepared for the European Commission DG Communications Networks, Content & Technology
by OMDIA and Point Topic Ltd.
National coverage by broadband technology
By the end of June 2023, 99.0% of German households had access to at least one fixed broadband technology, while NGA coverage stood at 95.6%. In rural Germany, fixed broadband and NGA networks were available to 97.5% and 86.3% of rural households, respectively.
Like in previous years, Germany outperformed the EU average in the broadband and NGA categories, but the availability of fixed Very High Capacity networks (FTTP & DOCSIS 3.1) remained low, particularly in rural areas where the gap to the EU average stood at 18.0 percentage points by mid-2023.
FTTP coverage improved by 10.5 percentage points over the 12-month period, but despite the strongest growth seen to-date, Germany remained the country with the second lowest FTTP coverage in this year’s study. With just 29.8% of homes passed, Germany held a gap of 34.2 percentage points to the EU average. In contrast, Germany exceeded the EU average across all copper and cable-based technologies.
DSL remained the most prevalent broadband technology in Germany, despite a 1.0 percentage point decline, with 96.7% households covered by mid-2023. VDSL and VDSL2 Vectoring were available to 86.6% and 79.4% of households, respectively. Germany recorded the fourth highest coverage in the VDSL2 Vectoring category in this year’s study. Coverage of DOSIS 3.0 grew by 0.7 percentage points, and 99.5% of the cable network had been upgraded to DOCSIS 3.1 standard by mid-2023.
5G coverage has become almost universal, with 98.1% of households covered, up by 5.0 percentage points compared to mid-2022. Operators also made progress in rolling out 5G in the C-band, and Germany recorded a 7.4 percentage point growth in 5G coverage in the 3.4–3.8 GHz band.
In rural Germany, DSL was available to 94.6% of rural households, up by 0.2 percentage points compared to mid-2022. VDSL and VDSL2 Vectoring coverage stood at 71.8% and 58.8%, respectively. Germany recorded the third highest coverage in rural VDSL2 Vectoring in this year’s study, which reflects the 8.5 percentage point growth in the category.
The pace of FTTP deployment accelerated compared to mid-2022, and coverage grew by 8.6 percentage points to cover one quarter (25.6%) of rural households. However, the gap to the EU average remained large at 27.1 percentage points.
Rural 5G was available to 92.8% of rural households which was well above the EU average of 73.7%, and an 18.0 percentage point growth compared to mid-2022. 5G coverage in the 3.4–3.8 GHz band grew at a much slower pace (2.7 percentage points), with just 4.8% of rural households covered.
Regional coverage by broadband technology
The number of regions that exceeded the 95% threshold in fixed VHCN (FTTP & DOCSIS 3.1) coverage more than doubled over the 12-month period and reached 24 regions by mid-2023. 19 regions recorded coverage below 35%, and the overall lowest coverage was recorded in Cochem-Zell (17.7%), Nordhausen (20.0%) and Eifelkreis Bitburg-Prüm (21.4%).
282 out of 400 regions in Germany recorded FTTP coverage below 35%, while six regions surpassed the 95% threshold.
Five regions (Siegen-Wittgenstein, Minden-Lübbecke, Lüchow-Dannenberg, Herzogtum Lauenburg, Stormarn) recorded more than 95% of rural households with fixed VHCN (FTTP & DOCSIS 3.1) coverage, while 137 regions remained below the 35% threshold.
Data tables for Germany
Note: The 2023 figures represent the state of broadband coverage at the end of June 2023. The 2022 (end of June) and 2021 (end of June) figures are drawn from the previous studies conducted by IHS Markit, Omdia, and Point Topic.
The decline in fixed VHCN (FTTP & DOCSIS 3.1) coverage in 2022 can be explained through major refinements in data collection in Germany: The requirements for data provision have been specified and deviate in part from the standards previously recorded. Furthermore, since 2022 data collection has been carried out on an address-by-address basis for the first time and includes a larger number of telecommunications companies.
All restatements are highlighted in italics.
Taken from The Broadband Coverage in Europe 2023 Report - a study prepared for the European Commission DG Communications Networks, Content & Technology
by OMDIA and Point Topic Ltd.
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