85
F
REEDOM ON THE
N
ET
2013
G
ERMANY
However, growth in internet penetration is clearly slowing down, with figures increasing by only
2.5 percentage points in 2012 in contrast to increases of 5–6 points in the years before.
2
Also, few
individuals who currently do not use the internet are planning to obtain access in the future.
3
Internet connections in private homes are almost universal, with 93 percent of households having a
broadband connection of at least 1 Mbps and only 5 percent still using slower dial-up connections.
4
The most widely used access technique is still DSL (82 percent), but cable internet connections are
becoming more widespread (11 percent).
5
With regard to high-speed broadband connections,
there is a remarkable gap between supply and demand. On the supply side, connections with more
than 50 Mbps are available for about 55 percent of households.
6
On the demand side, adoption is
lagging behind: only 9 percent of households actually subscribe to fast connections between 30 and
100 Mbps.
7
Regarding the take-up of connections of at least 10 Mbps, Germany is also lagging
behind internationally with only 33 percent of households having such connections, in comparison
to the EU average of 48 percent.
8
For this reason, the federal regulator has been criticized for
supporting controversial vectoring technology instead of focusing on the roll-out of fiber-optic
broadband.
9
Mobile phone penetration in Germany is almost universal, with a penetration rate of over 132
percent.
10
The adoption of mobile internet access increased from 28 to 40 percent in early 2013,
11
which is rather slow by international standards.
12
While 72 percent of mobile internet users have
additional landline access, mobile internet is the only form of internet access for almost a third of
2
Birgit van Eimeren/Beate Frees, “76 Prozent der Deutschen online ‐ neue Nutzungssituationen durch mobile Endgeräte.
Ergebnisse der ARD/ZDF‐Onlinestudie 2012” [76 percent of Germans are online – new usage situations by mobile devices],
Media Perspektiven 7‐8/2012, p. 362‐379, http://www.ard‐zdf‐onlinestudie.de/fileadmin/Online12/0708‐
2012_Eimeren_Frees.pdf; Other surveys report up to 79 per cent, cf.: Initiative D21, “(N)Onliner Atlas 2012. Basiszahlen für
Deutschland” [Baseline numbers for Germany], 2012. http://www.initiatived21.de/wp‐content/uploads/2012/06/NONLINER‐
Atlas‐2012‐Basiszahlen‐f%C3%BCr‐Deutschland.pdf; Forschungsgruppe Wahlen, “Internet‐Strukturdaten. Repräsentative
Umfrage” [Structural internet data. representative survey], IV quarter of 2012,
http://www.forschungsgruppe.de/Aktuelles/Internet‐Strukturdaten/web_IV_12_1.pdf.
3
Initiative D21, 2012, p. 4.
4
Statistisches Bundesamt [Federal Statistical Office], “28 Millionen Haushalte in Deutschland haben einen Breitbandanschluss”
[28 million households in Germany have a broadband connection], press release No. 474, December 19, 2011,
https://www.destatis.de/DE/PresseService/Presse/Pressemitteilungen/2011/12/PD11_474_63931.html.
5
Ibid.
6
TÜV Rheinland Consulting, “Bericht zum Breitbandatlas Ende 2012 im Auftrag des Bundesministeriums für Wirtschaft und
Technologie (BMWi)” [Report of the Broadband Atlas End of 2012 on behalf of the Ministry of Economics and Technology], Part
1, 2012, p. 6, http://www.zukunft‐breitband.de/DE/Service/publikationen,did=559116.html.
7
Kai Lukas/Almuth Marx/Bernd Oliver Schöttler/Christoph Sudhues, “Abschlussbericht ‘Dienstequalität von Breitbandzugängen’
Studie im Auftrag der Bundesnetzagentur” [Final report ‘Service quality of broadband access’ Study on behalf of the Federal
Network Agency], April 9, 2013, p. 54, http://www.initiative‐
netzqualitaet.de/fileadmin/user_upload/Abschlussbericht_BNetzA_Studie_Dienstequalitaet_Breitbandzugaenge.pdf.
8
European Commission, Digital Agenda Scoreboard, http://bit.ly/1h9FS4d.
9
Die Telekom forciert VDSL‐Vectoring statt Glasfaser” [Fiber to the Neverland. DT pushes VDSL‐Vectoring instead of Fibre], c't
10/2013, April 29, 2013, pp. 18‐21, http://heise.de/‐1847272 ; Volker Briegleb, “Vectoring: Regulierer genehmigt VDSL‐Turbo”
[Vectoring: Regulator approves VDSL‐Turbo]. heise‐online, April 09, 2013, http://heise.de/‐1837933.
10
Bundesministerium für Wirtschaft und Technologie [Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology], “Monitoring‐Report
Digital Economy 2012”, November 2012, p. 52 http://bmwi.de/EN/Service/publications,did=542994.html.
11
Initiative D21/Huawei Technologies Deutschland (Ed.), Mobile Internetnutzung [mobile internet usage], February 2013, p. 8,
http://www.initiatived21.de/wp‐content/uploads/2013/02/studie_mobilesinternet_d21_huawei_2013.pdf.
12
Bundesministerium für Wirtschaft und Technologie, 2012, p. 66.
304