EWE Tel is suing Federal Network Agency: Dispute over frequencies escalated

Bonn / Munich (IT BoltWise) - The telecommunications company EWE Tel has taken legal action against the Federal Network Agency. At the center of the dispute is a set of rules adopted by the authority in March to extend frequency use rights, which dispenses with the usual billion -dollar auction.

The decision of the Federal Network Agency, which enables existing frequency rights of use without auction, has not only called EWE Tel, but also other virtual network operators such as Freenet. These companies that rely on the infrastructure of the large network operators feel disadvantaged in their market opportunities. In particular, EWE Tel from the Federal Network Agency calls for a binding regulation, which prescribes network operators to rent its networks. In contrast, the Federal Network Agency has only issued a negotiating requirement that grants the network operators freedom in the negotiations.

The negotiating requirement requires the network operators to negotiate the use of their infrastructure, whereby they should consider themselves efficient negotiations to give given guidelines. Critics, including EWE Tel and the Bundeskartellamt, say that this regulation is not sufficient to ensure fair competition in the preliminary performance market. The established industry, on the other hand, sees the negotiating requirement as too far and fears that an obligation to rent your networks could endanger your own business models.

Legal disputes about frequency use rights and the associated regulation have a skill light on the challenges on the mobile phone market. The Federal Network Agency is faced with the difficult task of creating a balance between the interests of the large network operators and the smaller virtual providers. The decision of the Cologne Administrative Court, which is made in this procedure, could have far -reaching effects on the structure of the German mobile phone market and significantly influence the conditions for the occurrence of new providers.

The current situation is not the first of its kind for EWE Tel. In a comparable case in 2019, the company has already recorded success; An earlier decision to give frequency was lifted after the lawsuit was lifted, even if this was not yet final.

Future developments in this legal dispute will be of crucial importance in order to assess how the regulatory framework conditions are designed in the mobile phone sector and whether they adequately improve competitive conditions so that new market participants can also find a place.