The ground-breaking ceremony in Ostritz was attended by Member of Parliament Dr. Stephan Meyer, District Administrator Bernd Lange and Yvonne Kieselbach from the Saxon State Ministry of Economic Affairs, Labour and Transport as well as the Mayor of Ostritz, Marion Prange, and Simon Melch from the aconium regional office in Leipzig. The federal government is supporting this last expansion project alone with around 27 million euros from the BMDV’s gigabit funding. In addition, there are around 13.3 million euros in state funding and the municipal contribution of around 4.4 million euros. In total, over 1,450 new gigabit connections will be created in expansion cluster 10, including for more than 1,200 households, over 220 companies and 29 schools. The municipalities of Beiersdorf, Ebersbach-Neugersdorf, Großschönau, Großschweidnitz, Herrnhut, Jonsdorf, Kottmar, Lawalde, Markersdorf, Oderwitz, Ostritz and Rietschen will benefit from the expansion.
Gigabit expansion as the basis for the use of digital technologies
Broadband expansion is one of the most important strategic projects for the district of Görlitz and the basis for a future as a digital district. It is focusing on gigabit in order to strengthen the future viability of the entire region and raise its profile as a business location. In doing so, it is also making use of the innovation potential that a high-performance digital infrastructure offers. For example, the district is part of the 5G innovation program of the Federal Ministry of Digital and Transport and is developing application scenarios for the 5G mobile communications standard in the areas of drone control and forest firefighting. Networked sensors installed in the forest play an important role in the “Forest Guard” project, with which smoke gases and temperature anomalies can be detected and controlled with an autonomously flying drone. A comprehensive, gigabit-capable network is the basis for the use of state-of-the-art digital technology. With its particularly forward-looking and efficient broadband expansion, the district of Görlitz is thus an example of how entire regions can position themselves for the opportunities of the future.