On December 15, 2017, the second expansion cluster was officially put into operation as part of the federal broadband funding in the district of Neuwied/Rhineland-Palatinate, after the commissioning of the first construction phase had been celebrated around four months earlier.
The official go-ahead for the second of a total of eight construction phases was given by the District Administrator of Neuwied, Rainer Kaul, together with representatives of the district, local authorities and municipalities in Hammerstein. The fiber optic required for the faster connections is now available in the expanded areas of the Bad Hönningen association municipality, including Bad Hönningen town and Ariendorf, Rheinbrohl and Arienheller as well as Nieder- and Oberhammerstein.
To enable the network expansion, which was funded by the federal and state governments with a total of 10.1 million euros, around twelve kilometers of fibre optic cables were laid and 23 new multifunctional cabinets were installed in the second construction phase. As a result, around 2,300 additional households will now benefit from high-speed Internet, including around 180 households in Hammerstein.
District Administrator Kaul and the mayors of Bad Hönningen, Michael Mahlert, and Hammerstein, Wolfgang Kluwig, were delighted with the broadband expansion, which is an important location criterion for new residents and companies, as well as for citizens and companies already based in the municipalities. The state and municipal representatives also praised the good cooperation with the companies involved in the project, which had worked in an exemplary manner.
Photo credit: aconium GmbH / Florian Schuh