Telekom buys Essen’s fibre networks as the regulator rethinks open access pricing: why I think the two are connected
What happened in Essen
On 2 October, Deutsche Telekom agreed to acquire the fibre network infrastructure of ruhrfibre Essen and Metrofibre in an asset deal. The networks pass around 87,000 households. Some of the infrastructure is finished and some is still being built. Vodafone customers connected over fibre in the area were moved back to DSL at short notice just before the deal was announced.
Telekom says it will migrate the networks onto its own architecture and take over the remaining buildout. Once that is done, the network will be open to Telekom’s own customers and to its wholesale partners. This follows Telekom’s acquisition of DOKOM21’s Essen fibre network at the end of 2025, and Telekom has said it is looking at taking over existing fibre infrastructure on attractive terms where it fits its network strategically and technically.
What the Bundesnetzagentur has proposed
Around the same time, the Bundesnetzagentur published its orientation points on pricing principles for open access wholesale offers and opened a consultation. The aim is to support a functioning nationwide market for voluntarily negotiated access to fibre networks, which the regulator describes as a precondition for the switch from copper to glass.
The approach starts from the familiar FRAND standard (fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory) and makes it practical through replicability. The margin between a network operator’s retail price and the wholesale price it charges must be large enough for an access seeker to sell an equivalent retail product profitably. To ground this, the regulator analysed current retail prices and agreed wholesale charges and derived the resulting percentage margins.
The paper is not binding and does not pre-empt the decisions of the Beschlusskammern. It is a starting point, and it is the first serious look at the commercial side of access, after the Gigabit Forum focused on technical and process questions. Responses are due by 16 November 2026.
Why I think these stories belong together
Germany has an unusually large number of mostly regional operators. For service providers, negotiating with all of them is unrealistic. For the operators, running credible, standardised open access is a real operational and commercial challenge, especially at small scale.
My view is that this leads to three paths: some operators will carry on independently, some will partner, and some will end up with a larger owner, as in Essen.
Clearer pricing principles could speed that up. If wholesale revenue can be tested against a margin benchmark, business plans that rely on optimistic wholesale assumptions will face tougher questions from investors, lenders and buyers alike. That is my interpretation, not something the paper says, and a great deal depends on where the benchmark ends up. Set too tight, it could hurt investment. Set too loose, it could hurt competition.
What to watch
The consultation closes on 16 November. In parallel, the federal government’s proposed changes to the Telecommunications Act, the so-called Gigabit-Grundbuch, reach the Bundestag from 9 October. Neither is final, but both will shape how regional operators weigh their options.