Following the symbolic groundbreaking ceremony a few weeks ago, the broadband expansion for the “Melle-Ost and Bad Essen-Ost” expansion lot in the district of Osnabrück has now begun in the Bad Essen district of Barkhausen. The Mayor of Melle Reinhard Scholz, District Administrator Michael Lübbersmann, District Councillor Mirco Bredenförder, Stephan Simon (District of Osnabrück) and Andreas Pante (Head of the Essen Building Authority) met with representatives of the responsible telecommunications company for the celebratory event on June 13. The district’s own infrastructure company TELKOS was founded for the broadband expansion in the district of Osnabrück, which focuses on expanding the digital infrastructure in the outlying areas of the towns and municipalities in order to open up underserved regions. The infrastructure project is being funded by the Federal Ministry of Transport and Digital Infrastructure (BMVI) with 15 million euros as part of the first of two funding applications. In addition, the district and its 34 towns and municipalities will contribute 13.7 million euros of their own funds as well as 5 million euros in funding from Lower Saxony. 6,200 households and almost 700 companies as well as one secondary school, three elementary schools and seven kindergartens are to benefit from bandwidths of at least 50 Mbps. To this end, 542 kilometers of civil engineering work is to be carried out. As part of the “Melle-Ost and Bad Essen-Ost” expansion lot, the districts of Meesdorf, underserved residential areas in the south of Buers, Markendorf, Wetter, Wehringdorf and Bulsten, the south-western area of Bruchmühlen, the industrial estates of Buer-Nord and Bruchmühlen as well as Bennien and Groß-Aschen are to be connected to high-speed internet in Melle. In Bad Essen, the districts of Dahlinghausen, northern Hördinghausen, Linne and Barkhausen will benefit. At the symbolic groundbreaking ceremony in Barkhausen, representatives from Melle and Bad Essen welcomed the investment in the district’s digital infrastructure. According to them, the district is sending out an important signal with the broadband expansion, as fast internet is now an important location factor. District Administrator Michael Lübbersmann emphasized: “As a strong business location, the district of Osnabrück naturally has its sights set on providing broadband for companies. However, it is just as important to us that the citizens also benefit, as is now the case in Barkhausen.”
Photo: Symbol photo for broadband expansion.
Photo credit: aconium GmbH