Photo: aconium / Florian Schuh
At a ceremony in Cologne-Mühlheim, Prof. Dr. Andreas Pinkwart, Minister for Economic Affairs, Innovation, Digitalization and Energy of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia, and Henriette Reker, Mayor of the City of Cologne, among others, presented the new broadband project “Weiße Flecken Köln”: 2,479 households, 204 companies, six schools and a hospital throughout the city are to be supplied with gigabit bandwidths. In addition, preparatory measures for cost-effective and fast development will be taken by using the so-called advance on the basis of reserve capacities for 4,470 properties. The City of Cologne is thus successfully pursuing its goal of achieving nationwide broadband coverage as quickly as possible. The federal government is supporting this project with around 16.5 million euros and the state of North Rhine-Westphalia with around 13.2 million euros. The City of Cologne is contributing around 3.3 million euros.
Gigabit infrastructure for innovation and economic strength
According to the Gigabit Masterplan Cologne 2025, comprehensive and efficient broadband infrastructures are part of the municipal services of general interest and are the basis for climate protection through intelligent mobility concepts, better healthcare through digital healthcare services, digital education for all and the digital transformation of administration. In order to achieve the goal of the gigabit strategy, the City of Cologne is proceeding in four steps: Network densification in its own commercial expansion, the use and re-acquisition of subsidies for the development of white and gray areas and, lastly, the expansion with 5G mobile communications based on the newly created gigabit infrastructure. This forward-looking planning enables the city to utilize long-term synergies in the expansion and thus efficiently create the conditions for a successful digital transformation. Together with the consistent use of funding upgrades, the city of Cologne has thus made exemplary use of the federal gigabit funding program, says aconium Managing Director Tim Brauckmüller, in order to provide its citizens, companies and institutions with a high-performance network in the long term – and thus provide the backbone for sustainable development as a gigabit city and for a smart region.