The development of the Broadband in Germany

We analyze the German broadband case in collaboration with Sophie Fuchs. In 1989 ISDN went into the practice service and was expanded with high investment costs. The “Integrated Services Digital Network” or “Integrated Voice and Data Network” is an international standard for a digital telecommunications network. The German term “Integriertes Sprach- und Datennetzwerk” was the original term, it was equal (sometimes even preferred) in addition to the English-language term, which was also introduced in German-speaking countries, to take into account the internationality of the system.

Until the 2000's, ISDN was widely available in Germany, with the spread of IP technology for telephony (VOIP), but ISDN quickly became a discontinued model. In the course of the All-IP conversion, probably the last ISDN connections in 2019 or 2020 are likely to go off the net. ISDN was originally developed for high-quality telephony and quickly became a DSL predecessor with "rapid" transmission rates at that time. A single base channel offered up to 64 Kbps. By cascading a maximum of 6 channels, peak values ​​of 384 Kbit / s were feasible. So-called ISDN primary multiplex connections in the business area even reached summation bit rates of 2 Mbit / s. But such additions were practically priceless at the time.

DSL predecessor

The history of digital data transmission via DSL already starts in the 80's. Because at that time one understood under "DSL", thus "Digital Subscriber Line", still the technology for the transmission of data via ISDN. Only later the term reached its present significance. In 1994, the so-called "DSL Forum", today "Broadband forum", was founded. An amalgamation of approximately 200 companies, to form a consortium with the aim, of developing common standards for the first xDSL techniques. The foundation of the forum should be an important basis for later and the international standardization of all xDSL techniques.

In July 1999, the time had come: The “Deutsche Telekom” switched the first DSL connections for private customers, after presenting their product T-DSL a few months earlier at the CeBIT in Hannover. Initially, customers could order a DSL connection in Berlin, Cologne, Frankfurt, Bonn, Stuttgart, Düsseldorf, Hamburg and Munich. At that time, the “Digital Subscriber Line connection” could only be booked in combination with an ISDN telephone connection, which resulted in a monthly basic fee of 98 D-Mark. A flatrate was not to think at this time: The combination with 50 T-Online surf lessons cost 197 Mark, for the package with 100 surf hours it was 247 Mark. But nevertheless: The 1999 first introduced DSL speed of 768 kBit / s was in times of analogue or ISDN modems with a maximum of 64 kBit / s a ​​real quantum leap. On top of that, 768 kBit / s downlink rate and 128 kbit / s in the uplink already represented a small revolution.

In the year 2000, the Telekom counted only 600 customers. Five years later it should already be more than 10x that much, more precisely around 8 million paying broadband customers. In 2008, about 20 million used a (V) DSL connection. In 2013, the number was again 8 million higher, and by mid-2017 around 27 million were connected to the high speed net (see Figure 1).

 

Figure 1: The development of the costumers using DSL of Telekom. Source: dslweb.de

Vectoring ignites the next level

In 2014, for the first time, a method called vectoring was introduced, which enables even higher transmission rates over existing lines with VDSL. When different signals are routed over conventional copper lines, interference or transitions occur. These can be reduced with the technical method of vectoring. This allows transmission rates of up to 250 Mbps. Meanwhile, the Telekom often connects the gray distribution boxes on the roadside with fast fiber optics. On the last meters into the houses and apartments, the data usually flows over the old copper wires. However, the initiative, largely initiated by Telekom, was not undisputed. Because the conversion of the distributors on vectoring has a decisive disadvantage, which alarmed competition keepers. It was even feared that Telekom plans vectoring the remonopolization through the back door. In 2018, supervectoring brings another speed upgrade. Thanks to technical improvements, supervectoring can accelerate existing connections with a maximum of 100 Mbps. More specifically, up to X Mbps. Again, existing distribution must be converted again. This is done according to Telekom since April 2017. Available rates are from mid-2018.

Figure 2: The change with supervectoring. Source: avm.de

Figure 2: The change with supervectoring. Source: avm.de

Where is Germany currently in the broadband expansion?  

Compared to Estonia or Finland, for example, or a number of countries in Asia, Germany is not playing a pioneering role in broadband expansion. As of summer 2017, 76.9 percent of all households in Germany were equipped with broadband lines of at least 50 Mbit per second. Speeds above 50 Mbit / s, which are already standard practice in other countries, were not detected at all. In Germany, rural communities, in contrast to major cities, are clearly dependent. Only 40.5 percent of households have fast lines here. In 2014, the previous Federal Government had set the target in the Digital Agenda to equip all households with broadband lines of at least 50 Mbit per second by 2018 at the latest. Since 2015, the Federal Government has been supporting the expansion with a program worth billions. In addition, underserved communities receive support for their expansion projects. In some regions, however, there is still a lot of catching up to do: parts of the Eifel, the Oberbergischer Kreis, the rural environment of Freiburg im Breisgau and larger areas around the Bavarian Forest, in southern and eastern Saxony, and above all in large parts of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern and Brandenburg.

In many corners of Germany, there are still only slow copper lines for data exchange. Without the rapid expansion of fiber optic cables, the rapidly growing demand is unlikely to be met. But that's expensive - and takes time. Deutsche Telekom is therefore pursuing the strategy of beefing up the old copper lines on the "last mile" with vectoring.

What about the competitors of Telekom? 

Transition technologies such as vectoring are not future-proof from the point of view of Telekom competitors, and even today are not enough to meet the requirements for a fast network. In addition, they fear competitive disadvantages, since in the technically quite complex vectoring process only one provider can have control of the various data streams in the line - usually the Telekom. The associations are calling for more incentives from the federal government and a clear concept for the expansion of gigabit networks.  80 percent of the fiber optic cables available today have been built by the Telekom competitors according to the associations. In the meantime, in addition to the cable network operators, there are also numerous regional providers nationwide that offer fast fiber optic cables - and that Telekom is challenging its customers. The providers are currently making a major leap in mobile communications. The new standard 5G promises a data rate up to 100 times higher than today's LTE networks, e.g. up to ten gigabits per second, as well as an approximately 1000 times higher capacity. In Tallinn, Bosch and Nokia showed for the first time an installation for machine communication in which factories and sensors exchange data in real time over a 5G network. The chip manufacturer Intel demonstrates with the partners Ericsson and the Finnish telecom group Telia, how a 5G connection on a passenger ferry supplies the ship and the passengers in the port with Internet.

We analyze international broadband evolution (here, the German case) in this blog, in Research Group about Digital Journalism and Marketing and Broadband and in Research Group on Innovative Monetization Systems of Digital Journalism, Marketing and Tourism (SIMPED), from CECABLE,  Escola Universitària Mediterrani of UdG, UPF and Blanquerna-URL, in Twitter (@CECABLEresearch), Google+, in the group of LinkedIn, in the page of LinkedIn, in the group of Facebook, in Instagram (CECABLE), in Pinterest and in this blog. We will go in deep in the XXIII Cable and Broadband Catalonia Congress (10-11 April 2018, Barcelona).