It is one of the largest expansion projects in the federal broadband funding program: over 67,000 previously underserved connections in the district of Bautzen – and therefore almost all households and businesses – are to be connected to the fibre optic network and provided with gigabit bandwidths. With a joint investment of around 206.5 million euros, the federal, state and local authorities are jointly creating the basis for the digital future, for competitiveness, participation and services of general interest for the entire region.
The district is now celebrating an important milestone in the district-wide gigabit expansion: With the completion of the expansion work in 9 of the total of 24 expansion projects, around 58,900 connections are already about to go live: around 52,800 households, around 5,500 companies and 218 schools that can be supplied with gigabit Internet.
The celebration at the baroque castle in Neschwitz was attended by Federal Minister Andreas Scheuer, Saxony’s Prime Minister Michael Kretschmer, Minister of State Martin Dulig from the Saxon State Ministry of Economic Affairs, Labor and Transport, President Regina Kraushaar from the Saxony State Directorate, members of the Bundestag Karsten Hilse, Lars Rohwer and Torsten Herbst, District Administrator Michael Harig, the mayors of the developed municipalities and aconium Managing Director Tim Brauckmüller, among others.
New infrastructures for a digital future
The new gigabit infrastructure not only enables residents, companies and institutions to make the leap into the gigabit society. It also supports the district in its digitalization projects, for example in the digitalization of mobility.
Since 2016, the district of Bautzen has been a model region in the pilot project “Long-term security of supply and mobility in rural areas” of the Federal Ministry of Transport and Digital Infrastructure (BMVI). One of the aims of the pilot project is to use new and intelligent concepts and routes to secure public services and mobility in the region in the long term. The use of new technologies based on a gigabit-capable network is fundamental to future transport planning.