Criticism is frequently voiced that the sluggish rollout of fiber optics makes Germany look more like a developing country. Compared to other countries, the coverage rate is indeed quite low. However, data from the telecommunications association VATM suggests that even the existing potential is not being fully utilized. As the infographic shows, there are currently more than twice as many so-called "connectable" households as there are households that actually surf the internet via fiber optics. FTTB and FTTH stand for Fiber-to-the-Building and Fiber-to-the-Home, respectively, meaning fiber optic cables run directly to the house or apartment.


