Apply for right of way for telecommunication lines and networks

To lay telecommunications cables in public traffic routes, you can apply to the Federal Network Agency to have rights of way transferred to you. The city or municipality will then grant you permission to lay the telecommunications cables.

If your company wants to lay telecommunications cables for public telecommunications networks in roads, you need the approval of the person responsible for the road. This is usually the relevant city or municipality.

To do this, you should first obtain the right of way from the Federal Network Agency (BNetzA), which basically entitles you to use the roads. If the BNetzA has transferred the right of way to you, the city or municipality must generally grant you permission if your project involves telecommunications lines that serve public purposes. In addition, the use of the path is then free of charge for you.

There is no legal obligation for you to apply for the transfer.

In your application to the BNetzA, you must specify the area for which you are applying for the right of use.

The transfer of the right of way applies for the period in which your telecommunications company is publicly active.

• for companies subject to registration: current extract from the register, e.g. extract from the commercial register
• If applicable: List of the
  • ownership structure
  • Company connections to road authorities
• Outlined or written description of your planned or existing telecommunications network or your telecommunications lines or your business model for supplying the user group
• List of the required areas
• Maps with the administrative boundaries of the areas
• self-declarations of expertise and reliability
• If applicable, reference projects and similar evidence of your company's previous civil engineering activities
• Investment and financing plan with all income and expenditure for the last 5 years
• Credit report from a credit agency about your company
• Evidence, depending on the type of financing:
  • Binding financing commitments and explanation of the financing model
  • Proof of own funds for the period of the first year of the investment plan
  • Binding financing commitment from credit institutions or affiliated companies
  • Credit report on affiliated companies providing funds
• • Binding grant or funding notices
• The Federal Network Agency may request further evidence and documents from you if these are required for its decision.

• Your company owns, operates or plans public telecommunications networks or telecommunications lines serving public purposes.
• Your telecommunications company is demonstrably competent, reliable and capable of establishing telecommunications lines.

• Opposition
  • Further information on how to lodge an appeal can be found in the notification or the fee notice.

You can apply for the right of way online, by e-mail or by post.

Apply for rights of way online:

• Call up the online application on the federal portal verwaltung.bund.de. This will guide you step by step through the necessary information, which you can enter electronically.
• You will need an ELSTER business account to register.
• Upload the required documents as a file and submit the application.
• Send files that are too large to upload or are not available in digital form by post to the Federal Network Agency (BNetzA.
• The BNetzA will check your application and, if necessary, contact you with any queries or if any documents are still missing or additional evidence is required.
• Once your application has been successfully reviewed, you will receive the decision on the right of way and the fee notice with information on legal remedies.

Apply for rights of way by e-mail or post:

• Download the application form from the BNetzA website.
• You can either
  • fill it out on screen
  • or download it, print it out and then fill it in.
• Print out the form and sign it.
• Send the form with all the necessary documents to the BNetzA, preferably by e-mail or alternatively by post.
• The next steps are the same as for the online application.

There is no deadline.

The processing time is up to 6 weeks. The mentioned period starts with completeness of the application documents, i.e. including the required proofs.

Fees for the transfer of the right of use are set according to the time spent. The fees are set by means of a separate fee notice.