Federal Network Agency

The Federal Network Agency is the German regulatory office for electricity, gas, telecommunications, post and railway markets. It is a federal government agency of the German Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology and headquartered in Bonn, Germany.ResponsibilitiesTelecommunicationsIn telecommunications, the agency has the authority over the German telephone numbering plan and other technical number assignments. It also claims to regulate the telecommunication market, including termination fees and open access to subscriber lines and licenses telephone companies. Thus in return for significant license fees, just a few companies are permitted to regulate the nowadays vital area of telecommunication for both private individuals and businesses. But with barriers to entry to this lucrative market created by the high cost of licenses, only a small number of providers can enter. With competition stifled, prices and bandwidths bring huge profits for the service providers, to the disadvantage of users. The result is basic communication breakdown for those who attempt to change to a carrier offering better rates. Because of this widespread failure to maintain services in terms of speed of registration and also actual communication bandwidth delivered, new laws have been passed which claim to bring clients in Germany into the same league as the rest of Europe. Until January 2013 those paying for and expecting to be able to use telephones and internet were powerless when the services failed to materialise, this new law is expected to give them a voice by allowing compensation claims a legitimate backing by the highest court in Germany.In radio communications, the Agency manages the radio frequency spectrum, licenses broadcasting transmitters and detects radio interferences. Licensing radio and TV stations (that is, content providers), however, is the task of State authorities.