Berlin, April 28, 2025 – Epicenter.works, the Gesellschaft für Freiheitsrechte (GFF), the Verbraucherzentrale Bundesverband (vzbv), and Stanford Professor Barbara van Schewick have filed a complaint against Deutsche Telekom with Germany’s telecom regulator Bundesnetzagentur. The complaint aims to end Deutsche Telekom’s violations of Europe’s net neutrality law and improve internet quality for millions of Telekom customers.

Paid Fast Lanes at the Entrance to Deutsche Telekom’s Network

The coalition accuses Deutsche Telekom of creating artificial bottlenecks at the entrance to its network. Telekom deliberately exploits these bottlenecks to demand payment from online services for unrestricted access to Telekom customers.

The result is a two-tier internet: Deep-pocketed services that pay Telekom flow quickly into the Telekom network and function flawlessly. Smaller providers and startups that cannot or do not want to afford these payments are slowed down. Their services load slowly or not at all – they remain stuck in the data traffic jam at the entrance to Telekom’s network.