What does your new role at BNetzA entail and what are your priorities?
As vice-president of BNetzA I am in charge of the telecommunications sector, digital issues and the postal and railway sectors. It is my priority to help Germany to become more digital. This entails of course a nationwide, future-proof telecommunications infrastructure. One of my principal goals is therefore to support and accelerate the process of copper-to-glass migration and to improve the availability of fast mobile internet to allow for more economic growth and more social participation everywhere in Germany.
In addition, I will support the transformation of BNetzA into a digital agency. BNetzA already plays an essential role in the regulation of digital platforms as digital services coordinator, and a new department within BNetzA will address questions related to artificial intelligence and data. We aim to strengthen the trust of citizens and stakeholders in artificial intelligence and ensure that everyone – and not only experts – can understand and access this new technology.
Another important point for me as vice-president of BNetzA is the fostering of competition and innovation in the German railway sector.
And I am very much looking forward to working together with all our international partners.
At last year’s IIC Annual Conference we heard about the importance of the ‘twin transition’. Could you outline what progress has been made on this and what more needs to be done?
The twin transition is a concept referring to the simultaneous transition towards a greener and more digitalised economy and how their interplay reinforces each other. BNetzA plays a key role in this transitional process as we enhance both the energy transition, through the deployment of RES1 capacities and their secure integration in the energy network, and the digital transition, e.g. through the sustainable deployment of gigabit networks.
If we take the telecommunications infrastructure, which has a rather limited environmental footprint, we look into ways to harness energy saving potentials in the expansion of the network, for example by positively taking into account in our regulatory decisions cooperative approaches among market participants, particularly in relation to sharing passive infrastructure (on which mobile equipment is installed, such as towers, masts and rooftops), but also in areas where infrastructure competition faces constraints due to economic viability. The ICT sector is currently responsible for approximately two to four per cent of worldwide greenhouse gas emissions, of which 12 to 24 per cent is caused by networks. We see it as one of our tasks to closely monitor the environmental impact of the ICT sector which is expected to increase sharply with the further deployment of new digital tools and services, all based on the use of large data volumes. As a consumer protection authority, it is our task to create transparency about the ecological footprint of the ICT sector and sensitise consumers to this issue. At the same time, the telecommunications sector has an enabling role for the energy transition as it helps with ‘smartening’ the energy system, e.g. through smart grids and smart meters.
Let me name a very important instrument which was introduced by BNetzA regarding the digital steering of certain controllable devices for the sake of distribution grid stability:
For the success of the energy transition, it is necessary that the networks are optimised, digitalised and expanded at a rapid pace. Where this network optimisation has not yet taken place, BNetzA is taking precautions with regulations to accelerate the transport and heating transition and to ensure security of supply at the low-voltage level.
One goal…is to reduce the carbon footprint of mobile networks to zero. That is why I oppose the view to end mobile network evolution
To sum it up, to push the twin transition in both sectors, significant investment is needed to upgrade and expand the grid. The role of the regulator is to incentivise investment by creating a predictable regulatory environment providing trust to investors. At the same time the regulator needs to ensure that networks are rolled out in the most efficient and cost-effective way as otherwise users are burdened with too high costs.
Artificial intelligence is attracting some attention because of the amount of energy it consumes in data centres. Microsoft paying for the recommissioning of a nuclear reactor at Three Mile Island in the US is seen by many as highly significant. Do you think, in the charge for net zero, enough thought has been given to this, given the predicted increase in numbers of data centres?
The great challenge of AI is the trade-off between its great potential in terms of efficiency gains throughout the different sectors of our economy and especially for tackling climate change, and its growing emissions. For developing and running AI applications, computing power is essential. According to OpenAI2 computing needed to train an average model increases by a factor of 10 each year. Computing power is concentrated in data centres, the number of which is expected to significantly increase in the coming years. The power consumption of data centres is being addressed in the 2023 revision of the Energy Efficiency Directive, which introduces a new obligation for the monitoring and reporting of the energy performance and water footprint of data centres through an EU-level database. In addition to the power and water consumption of hardware, AI software has also a major influence on energy consumption. So far, there are no legal requirements for the energy efficiency of AI applications, although there is at national level the possibility to qualify for an environmental label – the Blue Angel – for resource- and energy-efficient software products.
In the new AI regulatory framework, AI’s environmental challenge is mainly addressed in the context of standardisation requests, ‘which shall also ask for deliverables on reporting and documentation processes to improve AI systems’ resource performance’ and new voluntary codes of conduct for ‘assessing and minimising the impact of AI systems on environmental sustainability, including as regards energy-efficient programming and techniques for the efficient design, training and use of AI’. This is only a first step. The European Commission will regularly review the progress made in both areas and assess the need for further measures or actions, including binding ones.
To briefly answer your question, much thought is given to AI’s environmental challenge within the AI’s developers community, in the industry, in think tanks and various voluntary initiatives, and at governmental level. However, we definitely need to closely monitor whether the measures taken effectively contain AI’s environmental impact and assess the need for additional ones.
The Digital Decade is a key plank of the EU’s policy programme. The latest report published by the EU suggests that member states are falling short in terms of connectivity and skills, and other observers have suggested that the goals won’t be reached until 2040 at the current rate of progress. What’s your assessment of the state of the Digital Decade programme? Are the current targets still realistic?
The latest Digital Decade report highlights FTTP coverage as an area needing improvement. Fibre deployment in Germany remains behind other countries, although it is now expanding rapidly and growing faster than in many other European countries. Around 300 companies are actively rolling out fibre networks across the country, which is encouraging. However, several factors are slowing down progress, with the most significant challenge being the limited demand for fibre. This is largely due to Germany’s highly efficient copper network, which allows bandwidths up to 100 Mbit or even 250 Mbit with the help of super vectoring technologies. Additionally, widespread coaxial networks can often deliver gigabit speeds. This still meets the needs of many customers. Understanding these factors provides a basis for discussing the right tools to achieve the Digital Decade targets and thus supporting the current market dynamic adequately.
Mobile coverage using the latest technologies has massively improved during the past years. 5G already covers 92.5 per cent of the area of Germany. As of July 2024, more than 97.4 per cent of the area is also covered with 4G by at least one network operator. The early availability of 5G spectrum, starting with the 5G auction in 2019, and the technology neutral licensing approach also of existing licences have allowed for this rapid uptake.
To foster and support the goals of the Digital Decade, sufficient spectrum is a critical resource. For the future spectrum needs of mobile operators and private networks, such as Wi-Fi, Germany is actively involved in studies at the EU and CEPT3 level in relation to the upper 6 GHz frequency range, where a shared approach is our preferred solution as long as there are no hampering conditions for this.
There is increasing scepticism around new telecommunications technologies (see, for example, this article from Intermedia). The argument is that the telecoms industry should stop getting carried away with 5G and 6G and focus instead on efficiency. What is your take on this view?
With regard to mobile broadband coverage, 5G and 6G are just marketing slogans, or better, labels representing a certain stage of achievement in the more or less continuous and contiguous technological development of the standard. Let us therefore look at the demand for technical improvements by society as a whole and the demand for access by users of cellular phones. What people need in this respect is good coverage and good speed – everywhere. Good coverage depends on the service used. However, this does not apply to the underlying standards. Higher data rates are just one aspect of new mobile generations. 5G is also focusing on real-time communication and ultra-high reliability. These aspects, combined with a massive machine-type communication, are important for industries. 5G also plays a huge role in autonomous driving where it is not just a comfortable use case. Instead, zero traffic fatalities are the goal of this development. While those aspects are also relevant with regard to 6G, the emphasis there is on other aspects like sensing, localisation and energy efficiency. One goal for example is to reduce the carbon footprint of mobile networks to zero. That is why I oppose the view to end mobile network evolution. And I can underline that 5G and 6G will focus on efficiency. Both 5G and 6G will bring further technological advancement from which both people and industries can benefit. Thus, I believe that neither society as a whole nor individual users are asking the telecoms industry to stop aiming for quantum leaps in technology and instead focus only on efficiency. In my eyes, both are crucial and go hand in hand.
Quickfire
What was the last book you read?
February 1933: The Winter of Literature, by Uwe Wittstock. An amazing book about just six weeks in which Germany went from democracy to dictatorship in 1933.
Three things you’d save if your house was on fire?
My three children. Okay, they are human beings, not things – so probably my diploma, my laptop and the key to my VW Bulli.
Favourite movie or show?
Mamma Mia!
Where did you last go on holiday?
This summer I was hiking in the Julian Alps in Slovenia.
