The Gigabit Infrastructure Act and in-building fibre

What the regulation is

The Gigabit Infrastructure Act (GIA) is Regulation (EU) 2024/1309, adopted on 29 April 2024. It replaces the 2014 Broadband Cost Reduction Directive (Directive 2014/61/EU) and aims to make gigabit networks cheaper and faster to build across the EU (EUR-Lex summary).

Because it is a regulation rather than a directive, it applies directly in every Member State. It covers several areas: access to existing physical infrastructure such as ducts and poles, coordination of civil works, single information points, faster permit-granting (with permits to be granted or refused within four months, and deemed granted by default if the authority misses the deadline), and the part this guide focuses on: fibre inside buildings.

The regulation sits behind the EU target that, by 2030, all end users at fixed locations should be covered by a gigabit network. Its recitals note that equipping buildings with gigabit infrastructure can be a significant part of the cost of deploying a gigabit network, while adding ducts during construction costs little.

Key dates

11 May 2024: the first provisions applied, including the mandate for BEREC, the body of European telecoms regulators, to prepare guidelines on access to in-building physical infrastructure.
12 November 2025: the regulation applies generally. This was also the deadline for Member States to adopt standards or technical specifications for in-building fibre, and for BEREC to publish guidelines on access to in-building physical infrastructure.
12 February 2026: the in-building obligations in Article 10 take effect for buildings whose permit applications are submitted after this date.
12 May 2026: the remaining provisions apply, covering transparency on physical infrastructure and planned civil works, the digital single information points and their role in permit-granting (Article 19).

In-building requirements

Fibre-ready physical infrastructure

The regulation defines fibre-ready in-building physical infrastructure as in-building physical infrastructure intended to host optical fibre elements: the ducts, conduits and mounting points that fibre runs through. Under Article 10(1), all newly constructed buildings and buildings undergoing major renovation works, including parts under joint ownership, for which building permit applications are submitted after 12 February 2026, must be equipped with it.

In-building fibre wiring

The same buildings must also have in-building fibre wiring, including connections up to the physical point where the end user connects to the public network. In other words, it is not enough to leave empty ducts: the fibre itself has to be installed.

Access points for multi-dwelling buildings

Under Article 10(2), new multi-dwelling buildings and multi-dwelling buildings undergoing major renovation, with permit applications after 12 February 2026, must have an access point. The regulation defines this as a physical point, inside or outside the building, accessible to network operators, where connection to the fibre-ready in-building infrastructure is made available.

Article 11 gives any provider of public electronic communications networks the right to roll out its network, at its own cost, up to the access point, and to access existing in-building physical infrastructure where duplicating it is technically impossible or economically inefficient. The holder of the right to use the access point must meet reasonable written requests on fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory terms.

Standards and compliance

Article 10(4) required Member States to adopt standards or technical specifications covering at least the access point and fibre interfaces, cables, sockets, conduits or micro-ducts, protection against interference with electrical cabling, minimum bend radius and the cabling installation. Article 10(5) requires compliance procedures, which may include on-site inspection of buildings or a representative sample.

Exemptions

Member States can exempt categories of building where compliance would be disproportionate in cost, and must identify building types such as certain monuments, historic buildings and military buildings that are exempt or need technical adaptations. These are published via a single information point, so check the national list before planning.

The fibre-ready label

Article 10(6) makes buildings that meet these requirements eligible for a voluntary 'fibre-ready' label, where a Member State chooses to introduce one. It is optional for Member States and for building owners.

What operators and contractors should do

Find your national standards or technical specifications for in-building fibre and check your installation practice against them: sockets, cable types, bend radius and duct specifications.
Check which buildings in your pipeline had permit applications submitted after 12 February 2026. Those are subject to Article 10.
Check your Member State's list of exempt building categories before you plan or quote.
Agree with developers and owners where the access point will be and who holds the right to use it.
Keep a written record of access requests under Article 11, including dates, terms offered and responses, in case of a dispute.
Record the in-building route for each building: entry point, access point, riser and the path to each dwelling.
Document each dwelling's connection with photos and a status, so you can show compliance if a building is inspected.
If your country offers a fibre-ready label, find out what evidence the labelling procedure asks for and collect it during the build rather than afterwards.
Prepare handover documents that the owner can keep with the building's records.

Where Holoflow fits

Holoflow is a platform for planning and documenting fibre inside multi-dwelling buildings. Teams scan a building with a supported iPhone or iPad with LiDAR, plan the riser, cabling and equipment in a browser-based 3D editor, and track every floor and flat with a status and photos. Handover reports are produced in your own Word template, with the customer's signature captured on site. EU customer data is hosted in our EU region on Microsoft Azure. Read more about Holoflow in Germany and the EU.

Sources

This guide is a plain-English summary, not legal advice. National rules and standards differ between Member States; check them for each country you work in.

The Gigabit Infrastructure Act and in-building fibre.