On 23 April, the European Parliament formally adopted the trilogue agreement on the Gigabit Infrastructure Act (GIA) by a large majority (594 for, 7 against, 15 abstentions). The aim of this legal act is to create opportunities for an accelerated and more cost-effective fibre optic roll-out. It is also intended to promote the harmonisation of the European telecommunications market.
Kerstin Andreae, Chairwoman of the Executive Board of the Bundesverbands der Energie- und Wasserwirtschaft (BDEW), comments as follows:
„The Gigabit Infrastructure Act contains many important measures to facilitate the expansion of gigabit infrastructure. It is particularly pleasing that the possibility of refusing access to passive infrastructure has been included. Due to the special market situation in Germany, this regulation will safeguard existing business models and investments and avoid inefficient overbuilding.
The explicit exemption of drinking water infrastructure from the definition of ‚physical infrastructure‘ in Art. 2 of the GIA is also positive. It is in line with the requirements for drinking water set out in the relevant legislation.
Fictitious authorisations are also part of the agreement. Accordingly, construction projects for the construction of fibre optic infrastructure and mobile phone towers are automatically deemed approved if the authorities do not reject them within four months. We at BDEW have campaigned for this, as we see the fictitious authorisation as a way of speeding up the approval process. Unfortunately, the requirements fall short of the German regulation of three months - the fictitious authorisation therefore remains ineffective in the national implementation.
Now that the regulation has been adopted in the plenary of the EU Parliament, all that remains is for the Council of Ministers to approve it before the legal act can enter into force.“
