On Friday, August 18, 2017, the state funding notification for the grid expansion was handed over in the East Hessian municipality of Hosenfeld in the district of Fulda.
The district of Fulda had already submitted an application for consulting services in November 2015 and received approval for funding from the federal government. Just one year later, in December 2016, the district received the final decision on the allocation of federal funds amounting to almost 10 million euros to provide the region with high-speed internet.
The municipality of Hosenfeld is one of a total of 13 clusters that have not yet benefited from fiber optic technology. Civil engineering work in the municipality is set to begin in August. In spring 2018, all households should be supplied with at least 30 Mbit/second. In addition to federal funding, grants from the state of Hesse are also supporting the broadband expansion. For this reason, Tarek al-Wazir, Hessian Minister for Economic Affairs, Energy, Transport and Regional Development, was also on site and presented the funding notification to District Administrator Bernd Woide.
Both politicians emphasized the importance of the expansion in the presence of Barbara Hoffman, branch manager of aconium GmbH, project sponsor for the federal broadband funding programme, and Günther Frenz, municipal policy advisor at aconium GmbH. The high-speed Internet would primarily benefit remote districts and settlements as well as previously underserved commercial areas. Broadband expansion is therefore an elementary factor for families when choosing where to live and for companies when deciding where to locate.
Photo: Bernd Woide (District Administrator of Fulda), Georg Matzner (Head of Department at the Hessian Ministry of Economics, Energy, Transport and Regional Development), Tarek al-Wazir (Hessian Minister of Economics, Energy, Transport and Regional Development), Christoph Erb (District Coordinator for the expansion project), Barbara Hoffmann (Branch Manager of aconium GmbH), Peter Malolepszy (Mayor of Hosenfeld), Günther Frenz (Municipal Policy Advisor at aconium GmbH) (l. – r.).r.).
Photo credit: aconium GmbH/Andreas Silberbach.