Germany lags behind other European countries in terms of both fibre optic expansion and demand for fibre optics. At the same time, it can be interesting to look abroad, especially to countries such as Denmark, Ireland and the UK, where providers also have or had a strong focus on VDSL and cable, but have made much more progress in fibre optic expansion and take-up.
This brief paper provides an international comparison of entry-level fibre optic products based on price data collected for the European Commission for the year 2023 and published in October 2025. The focus is on the price step from copper-based broadband connections with bandwidths ≥ 30 Mbit/s < 100 Mbit/s to broadband connections with a transmission speed of ≥ 100 < 200 Mbit/s. In addition, the price data for Belgium, Denmark, Germany, France, Ireland, Portugal, Spain and the UK was updated to the current margin. Price data was collected for the incumbent and the three largest competitors (by market share). In addition, the portfolio of wholesale products was also examined. In order to ensure sustainable and effective competition, the question arises as to whether and how broadband markets should be regulated and what impact pricing strategies have on competition.
Developments in other EU Member States indicate that voluntary migration is supported by attractive (competition- and access-based) prices for fibre optic products (with significantly higher bandwidths). Even in countries such as Denmark and Ireland, which also had a high proportion of VDSL and cable, more than half of active broadband connections are now fibre optic connections. In the UK, the share of FTTH connections is 30%. In contrast, Germany has only 13% fibre optic connections. The following marginal conditions may have contributed to this:
- Low coverage with FTTH homes connected (39% of FTTH homes passed)
- Strong presence of offers with bandwidths below 100 Mbit/s on both copper and fibre networks
- A 20% price premium for double play fibre entry-level products
- Significantly higher charges for bandwidths above 500 Mbit/s
- Wholesale prices with high price premiums for bandwidths above 500 Mbit/s compared to international standards, an infrastructure charge that is unusual internationally, and a commitment model that covers copper and fibre networks.
