The decision by Germany’s telecom regulator to raise...

said Thursday. The incentives set by the Federal Network Agency (BNetzA) to encourage broadband rollout aren’t enough, the organization said in a translated statement. Deutsche Telekom will receive millions of euros for its own broadband expansion in the already well-supplied and competitive regions where access to the ULL is especially important, it said. For the average customer, and the federal government’s ambitious broadband targets, “this is a very black day,” said VATM President Peer Knauer. Monthly rental fees for DT rivals for access to the last mile will go from 10.08 to 10.19 euros (14 cents). The price increase for the more than nine million rented ULL connections at the main distribution frame isn’t balanced by the marginal price reduction for the 140,000 local loops leased at the street cabinet level, VATM said. BNetzA’s decision will hurt competition and infrastructure investors, and is an “inexplicable U-turn away” from giving investors planning security, Knauer said. The regulator’s reasoning is hard to understand, VATM said. Instead of using real costs as a basis, as VATM advocates, BNetzA based its order on “fictional replacement costs of old copper wires” that were written off long ago and other miscalculations, it said. An economically reasonable ULL price would fall at least 30 percent below the current charges, it said. The decision holds “dire consequences” for any further broadband investment, it said. DT has already announced that it will focus on buildout in cities, for which it receives additional millions in revenue, it said. Companies that only invest in fiber deployment into the home without renting a local loop only profit in theory, it said. In practice, cable operators set the lowest price, so artificially high resale products, as approved by BNetzA, no longer protect against imminent price collapse and trigger no new investment, it said. The VATM urged the regulator to create an investment-friendly environment, stop focusing on “individual showpieces, beacons and town centers,” and help citizens outside metropolitan areas. Customers shouldn’t have to foot the bill for higher loop prices through taxes that fund those projects and universal service obligations that will pass the higher charges on to them, VATM said. It urged the regulator to start a dialogue with market players on a modern investment scheme. This is the first ULL price rise in 14 years, a DT spokesman told us. “This is a good and important signal for further investment in high-speed infrastructure.”