The expansion goal in the district of Osnabrück is clear: the last white spots in the district are to be closed. To this end, all 34 towns, municipalities and joint municipalities belonging to the district have joined forces with the district of Osnabrück and with the help of federal broadband funding to provide around 20,000 previously underserved addresses with gigabit-capable networks.
An important tool here is the district’s own infrastructure company TELKOS, which coordinates broadband expansion in the district, builds the fiber optic networks and then leases them to telecommunications companies as operators. This approach – building in order to lease – is funded by the Federal Ministry for Digital and Transport (BMDV) as part of the federal broadband funding program in the so-called operator model.
After the construction work to supply the first 8,000 connections in the district of Osnabrück has already begun (and in some cases already been completed), the district-wide gigabit expansion is now entering its second round. The ground-breaking ceremony in Melle-Wellingholzhausen marked the start of the expansion work for over 6,000 previously underserved connections throughout the district. The federal government is funding the project with around 60 million euros.
State Secretary Stefan Muhle from the Lower Saxony Ministry of Economic Affairs, District Administrator Anna Kebschull and Luca Prieß from the aconium regional office in Osterholz-Scharmbeck attended the official start of construction.