German property sector drives Telekom fibre rollout to 7 million homes
October 6, 2026 09.37 Europe/London By Jörn Krieger

The German property sector has commissioned Deutsche Telekom to extend its fibre network to seven million residential units, underlining growing demand for high-speed connectivity in apartment buildings.

The orders were placed by housing companies, property managers and developers, according to the German telco. Connecting multi-dwelling buildings is generally more complex than connecting detached and semi-detached homes, as owners, property managers, tenants, network planners and construction companies need to coordinate closely.

“Seven million commissioned homes show that the property sector actively wants to drive fibre deployment forward. The next step is to turn these orders quickly into built and usable connections,” said Jean-Pascal Roux, Head of Fiber Reach at Deutsche Telekom. “Fibre must not be a question of the type of home. People living in apartment buildings and social housing need the same access to digital infrastructure as residents of detached houses.”

Telekom highlights the open nature of its fibre network as an advantage for property owners. Around 45 national and regional telecommunications providers use the network as wholesale partners, allowing residents to choose between different providers, tariffs and services rather than being tied to Telekom.

“The upgrade to fibre modernises the technical lifeline of a building. At the same time, the choice of provider must be preserved,” Roux said. “With every street, building and home we connect, it is not only our network that grows. The addressable market for other telecommunications providers grows as well. This benefits competition and consumers.”

For larger property portfolios, Telekom is seeking to simplify deployment through framework agreements and standardised arrangements developed with property industry associations. The agreements are intended to provide owners, housing companies and property managers with a more predictable framework for planning, construction and operation.

Telekom is also working with regional network operators, municipal utilities and other infrastructure partners in more than 50 cooperation projects across Germany. Under these models, regional partners can build infrastructure locally while Telekom provides open network operation, allowing Telekom and other providers to offer services over the resulting fibre infrastructure.

According to Telekom, the company will invest a further €800 million in fibre deployment over the next three years, on top of its existing multi-billion-euro investment programme. The focus is increasingly shifting from the number of streets and buildings passed to the number of connections that can actually be used inside individual homes.

“The seven million homes are no reason for us to sit back – quite the opposite,” Roux stressed. “They show the responsibility, but also the potential, that lies ahead of us. Our goal is to turn orders into connections together with the property sector.”