On July 17, the “1st Broadband Summit for the Allgäu-Oberschwaben Region” took place in Ravensburg. MP Axel Müller invited the mayors of the municipalities that are members of the district’s broadband supply association to discuss broadband expansion in the region. After a brief welcome from MdB Müller, Klaus Tappeser, President of the Tübingen administrative district, and Oliver Spieß, Chairman of the broadband supply association, addressed the participants. Stefan Nachbaur, Managing Director of PRISMA, then presented the “kup. Ravensburg”, which is due to be completed this summer.
As a platform for innovative and technology-oriented companies, the office and commercial rental space will offer an attractive location for both young and established companies that use fast internet connections for their daily work. In cooperation with the city of Ravensburg, start-ups will receive special support with rental subsidy models and a coworking area, for example. During the second part of the broadband summit, various experts gave keynote speeches on broadband expansion in Germany and Baden-Württemberg. Dr. Tobias Miethaner, Head of the Digital Society Department at the Federal Ministry of Transport and Digital Infrastructure (BMVI), explained the further development of federal broadband funding. Dr. Michael Zügel, Head of Department 55: Broadband Funding at the Ministry of the Interior, Digitization and Migration of Baden-Württemberg, presented the current status and further development of broadband funding in the state.
Among other things, the state program aims to ensure nationwide broadband coverage by 2025. After the keynote speech by Dr. Frank Schmidt, Head of Political Representation of Municipalities at Deutsche Telekom AG, on the broadband expansion of the telecommunications company on a municipal scale, the discussion round was opened to the participants. Tim Brauckmüller, Managing Director of aconium GmbH, the sovereign project sponsor for the federal broadband funding program, moderated the lively exchange between the municipal representatives and the keynote speakers. They took the opportunity to ask individual questions about broadband expansion and the federal funding program and to point out their respective challenges, for example with regard to the selection of installation methods, the DigiNetz Act or communication with their citizens.
Photo above: Member of the Bundestag Axel Müller opens the “1st Broadband Summit for the Allgäu-Upper Swabia Region” in Ravensburg on 17.07.2018.
Photo below: Tim Brauckmüller, Managing Director of aconium, moderates the panel discussion at the “1st Broadband Summit for the Allgäu-Upper Swabia Region”
Photo credits: aconium GmbH