By Cory Doctorow (GPG 0xBF3D9110957E5F4C) @doctorow.pluralistic.net · 07/04/2026That's a rule that requires the incumbent (formerly state-owned, now partially state-owned) Deutsche Telekom to offer space in its conduit to smaller ISPs that want to thread their own fiber from their data-centers to their customers' homes. 13/ 1120
By Cory Doctorow (GPG 0xBF3D9110957E5F4C) @doctorow.pluralistic.net · 07/04/2026This is a good idea in theory - but in practice, DT has largely captured its regulators and so it is free to place all kinds of administrative hurdles in the paths of competitors seeking to use its lines. 14/ 2140
By Cory Doctorow (GPG 0xBF3D9110957E5F4C) @doctorow.pluralistic.net · 07/04/2026The result is that Germans can get fiber from multiple, heavily capitalized network providers who overbuilt redundant systems under the city streets, squandering capital digging trenches that they could have spent on providing faster and/or cheaper connections. 15/ 2120
Rupert Stubbs @rupertstubbs.bsky.social · 07/04/2026See OpenReach in the UK - sole decider of which areas get fibre broadband, based on… no one knows, as it’s impossible to ask them directly, or have any idea if or when the VDSL cabinet 20 yards away from your house might be connected. 142
