CAPTION: Alexander Dobrindt, head of the CSU state group, wants more mobile phone masts in Germany. (picture alliance/Matthias Balk/dpa/archive)
In the debate in Germany about poor cellphone reception, members of the coalition partners in Berlin are aiming to push for a state-supported solution.
"We want to see a powerful expansion offensive with a new state infrastructure company. Where network expansion is not working out, then the state should in the future build mobile phone masts until the reception gaps have been closed," Alexander Dobrindt, head of the Christian Social Union (CSU) faction in the state of Bavaria told the mass-circulation Bild newspaper. "As a leading industrial nation it must be our claim to have one of the best mobile phone networks in the world."
Andrea Nahles, head of the Social Democratic Party (SPD), is calling for nationwide network reception. "We want and need gap-free mobile phone coverage, including even the rural regions. On every stretch of the German coast, on every mountain peak and every milk churn in between," she told Bild, saying the task lay with Transportation Minister Andreas Scheuer of the CSU and Economics Minister Peter Altmaier of the Christian Democrats.
The remarks come amid a dispute between mobile providers and the politicians about so-called local roaming under the new mobile network standard 5G. At issue is whether, in those areas where there are many gaps, the local providers should open up their networks to competitors. Advocates say this approach would secure network coverage for all. But the network providers reject state-imposed rules on roaming, saying these are harmful to business because expensive investments in mobile phone masts would be devalued.
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