The district of Fulda is a good example of how important the federal broadband funding program is for rural areas in particular. The distribution of inhabitants in the East Hessian region is very uneven. While half of the district’s population lives in the densely populated area around the city of Fulda on 225 square kilometers, the remaining 1,155 square kilometers are very sparsely populated.
According to district figures, the 17 municipalities outside the Fulda city region, the town-like spa town of Bad Salzschlirf and the medium-sized town of Hünfeld have a population density of 89 inhabitants per square kilometer. Some of the small districts and hamlets in this sparsely populated area are very far apart. The abundance of forests and the challenging topography of the district, with differences in altitude of over 700 meters, make civil engineering measures even more difficult. The free market therefore did not want to provide the district of Fulda with a comprehensive broadband infrastructure.
For cases like these, for regions in which private-sector supported expansion is unsuccessful, the federal government has created the federal broadband funding program. The district of Fulda was one of the first to take advantage of the program in 2016. Since then, aconium GmbH has been supporting the expansion project. District Administrator Bernd Woide: “We were able to overcome the challenges by working together – especially thanks to the solution-oriented support provided at all times by the employees of the project sponsor aconium. The results of our joint pioneering work are now also reflected in many other projects throughout Germany.”
Facts, figures and conditions – an overview of the expansion project
The district planned 150 kilometers of civil engineering work throughout the district. In the Rhön biosphere reserve in particular, innovative laying techniques such as the flush drilling method are used to minimize interference with nature and the landscape and to avoid affecting the sensitive biodiversity.
The district uses synergies to keep civil engineering costs as low as possible. Empty conduits are laid efficiently as part of planned road construction measures and fiber optic cables are installed in existing drinking water and wastewater pipes. Since March 2017, excavations, the laying of empty conduits and fibre optic cables and the installation of multifunctional cabinets have been taking place in the 13 expansion clusters funded by the federal broadband funding program. Six of the 13 expansion clusters are already connected to the high-speed network.
Most recently, in June 2018, the previously underserved parts of the town of Tann and the municipalities of Flieden, Hosenfeld and Neuhof received high-speed Internet access. The “white spots” should be eliminated across the district by the end of 2018. The new network will then be triple-play capable, meaning that it will be possible to make phone calls, surf the internet and watch TV at the same time. Once the work has been completed, 98% of households will be able to use data transmission rates of at least 50 Mbit/s. For companies, connections with symmetrical bandwidths of 1 Gbit/s will be available. This is necessary for the increasingly digital work processes of many companies in the region.
Administration, medical facilities and schools benefit
Public institutions are also joining in. The local authorities of Ebersburg, Ehrenberg, Gersfeld, Rasdorf and Tann will receive FTTH (Fibre To The Home) connections. Online-based application and approval procedures (e-government) will then be possible in the district. Healthcare in rural areas is facing particular challenges in the face of demographic change. The digitalization of medical facilities is therefore important in terms of public services.
Thanks to the newly created FTTH connection, Gersfeld Hospital can use data-intensive telemedicine applications. They are an effective means of bridging distances between doctors and patients. In this specific case, Klinikum Gersfeld can exchange large amounts of data with the associated Klinikum Fulda – a maximum care hospital. This greatly improves healthcare for the climatic health resort of Gersfeld in the Rhön. The rehabilitation facilities in the small town and the Neue Rhön specialist clinic in the market town of Burghaun are also connected to a gigabit connection. This will make healthcare in rural areas more effective – benefiting health insurance companies and patients.
The importance of connecting educational institutions to the broadband network was emphasized by the Hessian state government in its “Digital Hesse” strategy paper. According to the paper, education is a key success factor for mastering the digital transformation. With the help of the federal broadband funding program, the district of Fulda is connecting all of its educational institutions with FTTH. Once the project is complete, a total of 78 schools will have access to download and upload rates of 1 Gbit/s and higher. This will create the basis for digital educational services.
Outlook – mobile Internet use, intelligent mobility
The subsidized expansion in the region is currently making good progress. The 6th call for infrastructure projects as part of the federal broadband funding program and the amendment of the funding guidelines have opened up opportunities for technology upgrades for broadband expansion in the district of Fulda. The aim is to implement further connections with data transfer rates of 1 Gbit/s and higher.
Tourist destinations in the rural Rhön region and subscribers in hamlets in particular should benefit from this, but mobile Internet availability should also be improved. Citizens are increasingly using Internet-enabled devices on the move. Local wireless networks (WLAN) offer such mobile network access and have great potential in terms of social participation and increasing the attractiveness of communities. Some municipalities in the district of Fulda have already implemented municipal WLAN services, while others would like to launch similar projects.
As WLAN is only a technology for transmission between the network termination point and the end device, appropriate fiber optic connections to the so-called access points are required. The district is focusing on this aspect in its current and future expansion plans – especially with regard to compatibility for 5G networks. The district of Fulda is consistently relying on fiber optics for the further development of its broadband infrastructure. Fulda district broadband representative Christof Erb: “We want to pave the way for the gigabit district through structured planning and the exploitation of synergies during co-laying. The aim is to ensure a nationwide feed-in and use of mobile data in rural regions.” This will also make it possible to implement smart mobility projects.
In the district of Fulda, close-meshed coverage by local public transport is not viable across the board. New flexible mobility concepts such as “bus cabs”, which only call at stops when needed, only work if customers are digitally integrated and if time information and route calculations are displayed in real time. “The provision of passenger information will only be possible if high-speed broadband expansion also creates a network with private and commercial ride-sharing services,” says Erb. Electronic ticketing services would then also be feasible. The district of Fulda has set the course for the future.
Photo above: View from Pferdskopf, about 6 kilometers north of Gersfeld.
Photo credit: Rhön GmbH
Middle photos: Christoph Erb (broadband representative of the district of Fulda, 3rd from left), Klaus-Dieter Vogler (mayor of Dipperz, 4th from left), Bernd Woide (district administrator of the district of Fulda, 5th from left), Manfred Henning (regional manager for Hesse, Rhineland-Palatinate and Saarland, aconium, 2nd from right) with representatives of the telecommunications companies carrying out the expansion.), Manfred Henning (Regional Manager for Hesse and Rhineland-Palatinate and Saarland, aconium, 2nd from right) with representatives of the telecommunications companies carrying out the work at the commissioning of expansion cluster 4 on 28.03.2018 in Dipperz (district of Fulda).
A flush drill is in use in the district of Fulda.
Photo credit: aconium GmbH