Capital Region of Digital Telecommunications

With Germany's largest and most modern communications network and the most comprehensive fiber-optic network in Europe, Berlin is an important location for major telecommunications and Internet service providers.

The capital offers:

  • The largest fully digital communications network in Germany; Berlin is the first fully digital city;
  • The most modern communications network in Germany;
  • The most comprehensive fiber-optic network in Europe;
  • Citywide ISDN coverage and a tightly meshed mobile network;
  • Citywide mobile broadband applications via UMTS networks;
  • Over 700 hotspots;
  • A broad array of services: 120 registered telecommunications providers (March 2009).

Telecommunications providers in Berlin

Telecommunications providers in Berlin
Use our interactive industry map to learn about selected locations and infrastructure conditions.
Industry Map

Networks and services

Telecommunications infrastructure

Berlin's telecommunications market offers a broad array of services. Berlin has two landline infrastructures:

  • Deutsche Telekom's (DTAG) copper network, connecting every Berlin household (about 2 million residences);
  • The coaxial network operated by the cable network operators Kabel Deutschland, TeleColumbus and various smaller providers (currently reaches 1.2 million residences).
Deutsche Telekom offers ADSL at speeds up to 16Mbit/s nearly everywhere in the city, with many areas of the city wired for VDSL, which offers download speeds of up to 50 Mbit/s. Alternative network operators like Arcor, Versatel and HanseNet likewise use this network for their own products. COLT and DNS:NET, two network operators focused on business customers, have laid proprietary fiber-optic lines to their clients.

Citywide mobile networks

The UTMS networks of the four major cellular operators, Vodafone, T-Mobile, E-Plus and O2, facilitate the use of mobile broadband applications citywide. Numerous specialized providers round out the broad spectrum of available products and services.

Berlin is committed to wireless LAN: Over 700 hotspots allow you to work from nearly anywhere in the city.

(Source: Project Future (Projekt Zukunft), 2010)