Approximately 2.2 million people in Germany still lack internet access at a minimum speed of 50 megabits per second, even though political goals aimed to achieve this eight years ago. This finding comes from a recent market analysis by the comparison portal Verivox, using data from the Federal Broadband Atlas, as reported by “Die Welt am Sonntag”.
According to the report, 96 percent of all German cities and municipalities have gaps in their internet coverage when measured against the 50 Mbit/s minimum standard. Consequently, a total of 10,520 communities are not fully serviced.
The situation is particularly poor in 113 municipalities, where coverage of 50 Mbit/s is at most ten percent. In 61 of these locations, there is no fixed broadband connection of this speed available, whether through DSL, cable, or fiber optic internet. While a theoretical connection of at least 50 Mbit/s can be made available to 97.3 percent of all households nationwide, the remaining 2.7 percent are cut off from this service.
The rate of expansion improved by only 0.72 percentage points compared to the previous year-a pace that is barely sufficient to close the gap in the foreseeable future. In contrast, the political expectation was different; by 2018, Germany was expected to be fully supplied with at least 50 Mbit/s. What was considered an ambitious target then is now technologically outdated.
Significant discrepancies exist between regions across the country. While many municipalities in Rhineland-Palatinate or Thuringia are still awaiting basic service provision, hundreds of communities in Schleswig-Holstein are already fully connected to fast internet, with more than 70 locations in the district of Herzogtum Lauenburg alone.