How do we get investments in modern broadband networks?

In the concluding panel discussion on the ICT infrastructure, Roland Berger, René Obermann, Lars-Hendrik Röller, Hans-Werner Sinn and Roland Tichy discussed "how investments in modern broadband networks can be facilitated". The primary question is whether and how changed regulation can stimulate economic activity and how the present investment jam in the German ICT network infrastructure can be eliminated. Many indications suggest that the state, by setting the proper framework conditions, can stimulate private investment in future technologies and itself spend less. In the opinion of the podium participants, the expansion of broadband networks requires no major additional government spending but an "intelligent regulation that stimulates the investment activities of the telecommunications companies". This would lead to more employment and an increase in productivity among the users in all sectors of the economy, and also in particular among small and medium-sized businesses.