Annual Report 2014 Expanding Networks
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Annual Report 2014 Expanding networks. Securing the future. Infrastructure development in Germany. 2 | BUNDESNETZAGENTUR | JAHRESBERICHT 2014 02 Ministers' Messages 34 Energy 36 Market watch 04 President's Message 41 Security of supply and grid expansion 53 Consumer protection and advice 09 The Magazine 55 Rulings, activities and proceedings 64 International cooperation 68 Telecommunications 70 Market watch 82 Consumer protection and advice 92 Rulings, activities and proceedings 100 International cooperation 106 Post 108 Market watch 114 Consumer protection and advice 118 Rulings, activities and proceedings The magazine focuses on 122 International cooperation infrastructure development. Read all about the progress in expanding Europe's 126 Rail electricity networks, the 128 Market watch campaign to improve broad- 131 Rulings, activities and proceedings band access, and innovative 136 International cooperation solutions in parcel logistics. 138 The Bundesnetzagentur's core tasks and organisation 146 List of abbreviations 152 Contacting the Bundesnetzagentur 153 Imprint EDITORIAL | 1 Modern infrastructures are the lifeblood of our industrial society. They are a fundamental requirement for our country's economic development and for the well-being of the people living here. The Bundesnetzagentur is responsible like no other institution in Germany for the expansion of infrastructure. It promotes competition and ensures through its decisions that companies are able to make the invest- ments needed to sustain the grid long-term. To make the Energiewende a success it also speeds up the planning of new power lines. The Bundesnetzagentur produced successful results in the electricity, gas, telecommunications, postal and rail sectors in 2014, working to advance modern and efficient core infrastructures in Germany. We will continue our work, keeping our focus on expanding the networks and securing the future of our country. 2 | BUNDESNETZAGENTUR | ANNUAL REPORT 2014 MINISTERS' MESSAGES A message from Sigmar Gabriel, more investment-friendly. Both of these projects will Federal Minister for Economic Affairs directly inform the work of the Bundesnetzagentur in and Energy the next few years. Highly efficient telecommunications markets are a "Securing the future" means that Germany has to be at fundamental requirement of a successful national and the forefront of creating and using modern infrastruc- European digitalisation policy; not only that, they are ture – and must remain at the forefront, too! Econom- also a determining factor in the competitive strength ic growth, prosperity and a high standard of living of Germany and of the European Union as a whole. need the foundation of an advanced, highly-efficient The federal government will align the framework even infra structure to be secure long-term. The federal more strongly with growth and investment in future. government is working hard at improving framework conditions for the investment necessary to speed up The expansion of high-speed broadband networks is infrastructure expansion. being driven forward quickly. The Bundesnetzagentur is playing a crucial role in the development of both fixed We have set out a 10-item energy agenda work pro- line and mobile communications networks, for example gramme on the Energiewende for this legislative through spectrum auctions and LTE expansion. period. Our network infrastructure aim is to speed up expansion and improvements to the electricity The German postal market essentially underpins the networks and to align the network infrastructure dynamic development of e-commerce and plays a better with the spread of renewable energies. For this leading role in Europe. We intend to strengthen this purpose, we have set up a coordinated system through- excellent standing with the support of the Bundes- out the country for development in the transmission netzagentur. network. At the same time we have introduced wide-ranging opportunities for participation and The Energiewende and broadband expansion are consultation as without the acceptance of the citizens societal responsibilities that all political levels have and enterprises in Germany, the Energiewende cannot to address. The Bundesnetzagentur plays a key role succeed. in this infrastructure expansion. Having enterprises make the investments necessary for the future While initial progress has been made in the federal sustainability of the networks must continue to be sectoral planning and approval of network expansion our goal as this will enable us to push ahead with projects that cross national or federal borders, for expanding the infrastructure. To achieve this aim, it which the Bundesnetzagentur is responsible, the pace is vital that all those involved work closely together has to quicken if we want to achieve fast network and remain in constant dialogue. I am convinced that expansion. The Bundesnetzagentur cannot do this we will see these infrastructure projects through to alone – all those involved must play their part. In the a successful conclusion and would like to wish you distribution networks we intend to update the all an interesting read. framework conditions for intelligent networks and meters in line with the Energiewende requirements. We published the key elements for an "Intelligent networks ordinance package" to this effect on 9 February 2015. In addition, we will make the regu latory framework for distribution networks Sigmar Gabriel Federal Minister for Economic Affairs and Energy MINISTERS' MESSAGES | 3 A message from Alexander Dobrindt, states. I expect the spectrum auction to generate a member of the Bundestag (MdB) billion euros, which we will invest directly in digital Federal Minister of Transport and infrastructure. The federal government will put this Digital Infrastructure funding programme to work by helping to close any economic gaps in broadband expansion. Our infrastructure is the foundation of our future The latest figures for broadband expansion show that prosperity. This is clearly demonstrated in the pros- we are making excellent progress towards achieving perity pyramid of developed economies: without an our broadband goals. In fact, the LTE mobile communi- infrastructure there is no mobility, no education, no cation standard now has 92% household penetration in work, no innovations, no added value and therefore no Germany, which reflects growth of 13% in one year. prosperity. The Bundesnetzagentur is responsible for Two-thirds of all households now have a high-speed regulating electricity, gas, telecommunications, postal internet connection with bandwidth of more than services and the railways – thus a significant part of 50 MBit/s, which is 11% more than in the previous year. our infrastructure. As such it is indispensable for properly functioning networks and lays the founda- The Bundesnetzagentur plays an essential role in tions for the prosperity of our country. driving digitalisation in Germany and thus employ- ment, growth and prosperity. I would like to thank the This will be especially true for digitalisation. Germany Bundesnetzagentur for the very fruitful cooperation. has to decide whether to remain a country of innova- tion or become a country of stagnation. The require- ment for remaining at the forefront of innovations and for digital value added is having high-speed internet access throughout the whole country. This is not only Alexander Dobrindt MdB so that each and every citizen can participate but also Federal Minister of Transport and forms the bedrock for Germany being a digital centre Digital Infrastructure of excellence. The Bundesnetzagentur and my ministry have together set a clear goal: by 2018 we want to have achieved a minimum broadband connection nation- wide of at least 50 Mbit per second. Last year we were able to meet important milestones on our way to achieving this goal. Of particular note was the decision by the President's Chamber of the Bundesnetzagentur to auction spectrum usage rights for the 700 MHz, 900 MHz, 1,800 MHz and 1.5 GHz bands, and conse- quently enabling mobile broadband through national consensus between the federal government and the 4 | BUNDESNETZAGENTUR | ANNUAL REPORT 2014 The President and Vice Presidents of the Bundesnetzagentur (from left to right): Dr Wilhelm Eschweiler, Jochen Homann and Peter Franke. PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE | 5 »The goal of blanket broadband coverage is best achieved by the pressure of innovation that arises out of competition between suppliers.« Modern infrastructures are the lifeblood of our The Bundesnetzagentur is of the opinion that the goal industrial society. They are a fundamental require- of blanket broadband coverage is best achieved by the ment for our country's economic development and for pressure of innovation, which arises out of competition the well-being of the people living here. Given the fast between suppliers. In general, we should continue pace of technological development, the one-time along the path of broadly diverse competitive develop- installation of telecommunications networks is no ment with a large variety of business models and a longer sufficient for information and communication clever mix of different technologies. To this end we technology, these networks need to be constantly should exhaust the potential of the various techno- updated and enhanced so that they can continue to logies, ideas and business models. Starting with easy grow alongside the growth in data volume. The access to information. This is where the Bundesnetz- changes in electricity