Published by Global Banking & Finance Review®
Posted on April 11, 2025
2 min readLast updated: January 24, 2026
Add as preferred source on GoogleThe German regulator supports 1&1 in a 5G rollout dispute with Vodafone, citing antitrust issues. Vantage Towers is accused of delaying site access.
BERLIN (Reuters) - The German competition regulator said it sided with 1&1 on Friday in a spat over radio mast access between the upstart 5G provider and larger rival Vodafone, suspecting the British telecoms group of breaching antitrust law.
In a preliminary legal assessment, the German Cartel Office informed Vodafone and its spun-off radio mast business Vantage Towers that they are suspected of impeding 1&1 in its bid to become Germany's fourth mobile network operator.
Vodafone and 1&1 could not be reached for comment.
1&1 filed a complaint with the cartel office in February 2023, blaming the sluggish progress of its 5G rollout on Vantage Towers, which it said was hampering access to the around 20,000 antenna sites it manages in Germany. Parent company Vodafone remains its main lessee.
In an apparent rapprochement in August that year, 1&1 struck a deal with Vodafone to provide access, but the office saw "massive delays" in the implementation of that agreement.
Vodafone and Vantage Towers now have the opportunity to comment on the allegations, the regulator said.
"At the current stage we are considering using our powers as a competition authority to enforce the provision of the sites which have not yet been made available," cartel office president Andreas Mundt said.
(Reporting by Hakan Ersen in Frankfurt and Rachel More in Berlin; Editing by Ludwig Burger)
The article discusses a dispute between 1&1 and Vodafone over 5G rollout in Germany, with regulatory involvement.
The German Cartel Office is investigating Vodafone for potential antitrust violations in the 5G rollout.
The main companies involved are 1&1, Vodafone, and Vantage Towers.
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