BONN (dpa-AFX) - Most Internet customers in Germany are not getting the connection quality they were contractually promised. This is the conclusion of a report published by the Federal Network Agency on Thursday. According to the report, mobile Internet is doing particularly badly. Only 4 percent of customers achieved the contractually agreed data transfer rate. In the previous annual report, the figure was 3 percent. For around a quarter of customers (25.5%), it was at least half of the contractually agreed rate, as before.

The situation in the fixed network has also improved only slightly compared to the same period last year. Here, less than half (43.5%) of users still achieved the contractually agreed data transfer rate. For 85.5%, it was at least half. This is only a few percentage points more than in the previous annual report.

Nevertheless, according to the report, most customers were satisfied with the performance of their internet providers. In the fixed network, 79.1% of them awarded school grades between 1 and 3. 70.4% were satisfied with the mobile network.

Despite the measured difference between mobile promises and mobile reality, the authority recorded significant progress in the expansion of the 5G network. For example, the proportion of 5G measurements in the last reporting period 2022/2023 was around 29%. Two years earlier, it was only six percent. The President of the Federal Network Agency, Klaus Müller, was satisfied with this. "I am pleased that the network operators are pushing ahead with the 5G expansion quickly. More and more mobile customers are benefiting from the very high speeds," he said. This development will continue to increase in the coming years.

The results of the broadband measurement depend on which tariff the user has agreed with the provider. Therefore, the broadband measurement does not allow any conclusions to be drawn about the supply situation or availability of broadband Internet access services. It merely checks whether the providers are delivering the contractually guaranteed bandwidth to their customers./gut/DP/nas