Policy Briefing · 04. December 2018

The German government provides subsidies to foster investments in broadband infrastructure – a key element in reaping economic and social benefits of digitalisation. This paper finds that the subsidies rely on flawed assumptions about the motivation and behaviour of subsidy-receiving telecom companies (free-riding fear, low demand, red tape) and suffers from ill-designed targets in its execution (time gaming, cream skim-ming administrative rivalry). Finally, it proposes policy recommendation.