Ultrasonic measurements of the attenuation and the velocity variation have been carried out in amorphous GeO 2 at low temperature ͑0.3-10 K͒ and high frequencies ͑80-210 MHz͒. From numerical fits to the tunneling model, the typical parameters of the tunneling states ͑TS͒ were determined and compared to those found for vitreous SiO 2 . The study reveals that in a-GeO 2 , which is considered as a close structural analog to a-SiO 2 , although the density of states is found to be very similar in both materials, the coupling between the TS and the phonons is significantly smaller. In the model of coupled tetrahedra as the origin of the TS, this difference can be understood in view of the fact that numerical calculations about the vibrational characteristics of network amorphous solids indicate that the tetrahedra are more decoupled in vitreous GeO 2 than in vitreous silica.