FRK Broadband Congress opens with calls for stronger fibre take-up
September 9, 2026 13.28 Europe/London By Jörn Krieger

The 29th FRK Broadband Congress opened in Leipzig on 9 September 2026, bringing together network operators, service providers and industry experts to discuss the future of broadband infrastructure, fibre rollout and regulation in Germany.

The two-day event, organised by industry association Fachverband Rundfunk- und BreitbandKommunikation (FRK), focuses on network deployment and the challenge of turning infrastructure investment into customer contracts.

Opening the congress, FRK Chairman Ralf Berger (pictured) criticised what he described as increasing political intervention and growing regulatory requirements for the broadband industry. At the same time, he acknowledged that rules were necessary – but stressed that they needed to apply equally to all market participants.

Berger also highlighted the importance of protecting critical infrastructure, which includes broadband networks. However, he warned that the data submitted to government and regulatory registers must itself be adequately protected. His comments follow the recent cyberattack on Berlin’s city administration and the subsequent publication of sensitive data on the dark web.

Berger called for regulation to be technology-neutral and fair. At the same time, he argued that regulatory requirements and associated costs needed to be reduced.

FRK has positioned the congress as a platform for discussing both political and economic challenges facing the telecommunications sector. Alongside the conference programme, an exhibition features companies presenting products and solutions for the construction and operation of cable and fibre networks.

The first major presentation of the congress addressed one of the industry’s key economic challenges: getting more customers to actually use the fibre networks that have already been built.

In his presentation “The difficult second act of the fibre market – Time to sharpen the saw”, Sebastian Krems (LATUS consulting) focused on the industry’s low take-up rate and the question of how operators can persuade more customers to switch to fibre.

According to Krems, only around 24% of the fibre connections that have been built are currently being used by customers. He considers this figure too low: “Last year, providers failed to increase the take-up rate,” Krems stated. He also argued that fibre connections are less widely accepted by customers in Germany than in other EU countries.

One reason is that many households are already satisfied with their existing broadband connection, for example delivered via ADSL or cable. Other barriers include concerns about technical problems during the switch to fibre.

Trust is key to increasing take-up

Krems identified overcoming the barriers to switching as the most important task for fibre providers. Customers should not encounter unexpected problems during the migration process, while communication needs to be transparent and reliable.

Providers therefore need to convince customers that switching is a straightforward process and will result in a better product. Above all, Krems stressed the importance of establishing trust in the entire transition process.

Another opportunity lies in accelerating the activation of fibre connections for customers who have already signed pre-contracts. Faster activation would allow operators to generate revenues from existing contracts sooner.

Energy, customer service and network construction

The remainder of the first congress day covers a broad range of operational and economic issues. Marcus Dettmann (Wirtschaftsrat Recht) is addressing the impact of the energy crisis on the telecommunications market, while Anja Richter (KNM Kabelnetmanager) is focusing on systematic approaches to improving customer service.

Further presentations deal with fault analysis using an Access Control System (ACS), digital planning solutions for broadband projects, virtualisation in modern Distributed Access Architectures (DAA), cost-efficient inventory and documentation of network level 4 connections, Wi-Fi in the home network and 3D data acquisition.

The first day will conclude with a keynote by Tim Brauckmüller of (aconium) on current developments in Germany’s federal gigabit funding programme.

DVB-I and HD+ on the second day

The programme continues on 10 September with presentations covering data management, television distribution, regulation and new business opportunities.

A key media technology topic will be the convergence of broadcast and IP distribution. Frank Heineberg (RTL Deutschland) will present current developments from industry association Deutsche TV-Plattform’s Media over IP Working Group, with a particular focus on the new DVB-I specification.

The programme will also address current legal developments in the sector before Patrick Verlinden (HD Plus) presents opportunities for generating new revenues with TV platform HD+.

Other sessions will cover technical challenges in CATV and DOCSIS networks, including ingress and intermodulation when CATV is combined with satellite, as well as regulatory issues and the enforcement of claims arising from damage to fibre-optic cables and infrastructure.