German government party wants government to build and operate a mobile network

If it is up to the German governing party CSU, there will soon be a mobile network that builds and operates the state. The Party no longer believes that commercial enterprises are capable of providing the necessary nationwide coverage.

The Süddeutsche Zeitung reports this in an article about the plans of the CSU. Now it is still a proposal from the party summit, but the intention is to present the idea to parliamentarians at the winter congress this week. If they then adopt the proposal, it is questionable whether the CDU will go along with it. That is the other governing party, which will have to support the proposal for the plan to go ahead.

Public network

The proposal of the CSU is to set up a public company. This must then ensure a reliable mobile network. According to the Süddeutsche Zeitung, the idea of the party summit is to reduce the need to rely on private companies. Telecom providers would continue to have to pay fees to access the network. In this way, according to the CSU, the German State can recoup the investment.

It is certainly not the only CSU proposal that the party is looking at this week. It would also be the intention for the government to interfere in the development of artificial intelligence. The aim is to establish a Franco-German research centre for artificial intelligence by 2020 at the latest. This will be financed from public funds.

Slow and low coverage

Mobile network coverage in Germany is not very good compared to other countries. The average coverage of the 4G network in the country is 59.5 percent. That’s less than other countries. For example, here in the Netherlands there is coverage of 93.5%, in Poland of 82.5% and in Albania 61.7%. The average speed is also lower than in other European countries.