Germany’s Federal Network Agency (Bundesnetzagentur) has published a paper detailing how the country will phase out its DSL internet connection and transition to fibre optic.
Germany has long been expanding its fibre optic internet infrastructure. To limit the financial burden of running DSL and fibre optic internet infrastructure simultaneously, the country now plans to phase out its DSL internet connection.
DSL (Digital Subscriber Line) is the oldest internet connection technology, which uses existing phone lines to transmit data. Fibre optic is the most modern kind of internet connection technology; it uses cables containing long, glass fibres which deliver a significantly higher-speed connection.
Despite fibre optic infrastructure development in recent years, only 47 percent of households in Germany currently have access to a fibre optic internet connection.
Even in Berlin, just 34 percent of households had access to fibre optic in September 2024. According to Stiftung Warentest, Hamburg, Schleswig-Holstein, Lower Saxony, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, and Brandenburg are the federal states with the best fibre optic coverage.
The fact that Germany is planning to phase out DSL when fewer than half of households have access to a fibre optic connection has left some worried. However, Bundesnetzagentur’s plan will account for these infrastructure gaps.
Since February 2025, it has no longer been possible to enter a new contract with an internet provider for a DSL connection. The transition process will be done in three stages to ensure that households still have internet access.
In the first stage, the Bundesnetzagentur is encouraging as many households as possible to terminate their DSL connection contracts and voluntarily migrate to a fibre optic contract.
In the second stage, if enough residents in a certain area have transitioned to a fibre optic contract, internet providers can apply the Bundesnetzagentur to disable the DSL connection in the given area. The Bundesnetzagentur will then review the application, the application documents are published, and anyone can submit a comment on the plans before the organisation makes a decision.
In the third stage, the DSL connection may be disabled in the area in question. Residents paying for an internet connection should be given significant notice of the plans and informed about alternative products. Only when all households have properly migrated to the new connection will the DSL connection be disabled.
All said, there is no need to panic that your internet connection will disappear from one day to the next. Like most things in Germany, the transition will be a slow process, lasting many years.
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