“We have to drive forward the rollout of the gigabit-network,” she told the annual conference of the German Association of Local Utilities on Tuesday.

The coronavirus pandemic had demonstrated how fast internet connections were needed to facilitate working from home, she argued.

According to government figures, more than half of German households have access to internet speeds of more than one gigabit per second, as of the middle of 2020. In practice, and at certain times, the speeds can be significantly lower however.

At the same event, Merkel’s vice-chancellor and finance minister, Olaf Scholz, pushed for faster development for Germany’s power grid. He warned that current estimates for electricity usage were out of date.

“We know, electricity demand will be much higher than official figures indicate,” he said in a video message, mentioning the growth in electric vehicles as one example.

Bringing renewable energy sources online faster must play a part in the future development of the grid, he said.