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Majority considers flat rates to be the greatest achievement

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In 1998, the first all-inclusive Internet tariff came onto the market and brought with it a turning point – before that, horrendous per-minute prices were the norm when surfing at home. For almost two-thirds of Germans, the Internet flat rate is the greatest achievement of the liberalized market. Around one in four would no longer want to be without telephone flat rates and messenger messages. This is shown by a representative survey commissioned by the comparison portal Verivox.

Flat-rate use more important than Whatsapp and mobile phone touch screen

What do consumers no longer want to do without after 25 years of telco market opening? With a large margin and 65 percent approval, the Internet flat rate took pole position in the survey. The telephone flat rate came in second with 28 percent. Messenger texting is seen as the greatest achievement by more than a third of young people under 30, compared to just 23 percent across all ages.

Other answer options such as video telephony or touchscreen only came up with single-digit percentages. According to the Verivox survey, the introduction of cost-neutral EU roaming is still the most dispensable: only five percent of those surveyed would no longer want to do without “roam like at home”. In the survey, the respondents were able to declare two out of a total of nine achievements in connection with market liberalization as personally indispensable.

“Today’s Internet usage would not be possible at all without flat-rate tariffs,” says Jens-Uwe Theumer, Vice President Telecommunications at Verivox. “Otherwise, with the amount of time people spend online today, it would cost a fortune. Nevertheless, the flat rate on the mobile Internet is still not the norm, but the exception – although the mobile usage time has long surpassed the stationary usage.”

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Hours on the internet? 1998 still completely unusual

The past 25 years have seen radical changes in terms of internet use. With the opening of the market in 1998, alternative providers were admitted to the German telecommunications market for the first time. In the same year, the first flat-rate Internet tariff came onto the market, offered by the technology magazine “Tomorrow”, which has since been discontinued: it cost the equivalent of 40 euros and was only valid at night. The telephone connection had to be paid extra. Considering the conditions at the time, this was a big step forward, because before that, per-minute prices of the equivalent of three euros were not uncommon. In 1998, using the internet was considerably more expensive than making a phone call – and it was only possible at a stationary location.

25 years ago, mobile data transmission (with a mini-speed of 14.4 kilobits per second) was practically unfeasible. It was not until two years later that the GPRS standard, which was four times as fast and is still used today as a “fallback option” in the 2G network, was launched. With the currently fastest 5G network standard, mobile data is sent through the network more than 300,000 times faster than with GPRS. Only with the launch of the 4G network standard (LTE) did mobile internet use become interesting for the mass market.

Right to the Internet: Long gone from being a private luxury

In 25 years, a lot has changed for the better for consumers; Recently, for example, the termination of existing contracts has been made significantly easier. Internet use has long been a natural part of everyday private and professional life; a “right to fast internet” was enshrined in the Telecommunications Act. Nevertheless, an uninterrupted supply of Internet is still not a legal requirement – unlike with electricity and gas.

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“The amendment to the TKG was without a doubt a correct step that was long overdue, but the promise of an uninterrupted supply was not made,” says Jens-Uwe Theumer. “In addition, the legally stipulated minimum bandwidth of 10 megabits per second is not sufficient. For appropriate social and economic participation, at least 30, better 50 megabits should be guaranteed.”

methodology

The data used is based on an online survey by Innofact AG on behalf of Verivox, in which a total of 1,028 people aged between 18 and 79 took part in May 2023. The question was asked: In 1998 the market for telecommunications services and digital goods was liberalised. Which achievement from the last 25 years could you least do without today? (Internet flat rate, telephone flat rate, messenger messages, fast mobile connections, touchscreen, video telephony, language assistants, EU roaming) The survey is representative of the population in terms of age, gender and federal state.

In addition, Verivox has researched the costs of common Internet tariffs for the years 1996-2000 as an example. E-Plus brought the first true flat rate for mobile use to the German market in 2005.

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