The Federal Minister of the Interior, Thomas de Maizière, and the Parliamentary State Secretary to the Federal Minister of Transport and Digital Infrastructure, Enak Ferlemann, met with the mayors of the district of Meißen and experts from aconium GmbH, the BMVI’s appointed project management agency, in Großenhain, Saxony, on 19 May 2017 to discuss the federal broadband funding program.
The reason for the meeting was the topic “Location factor broadband: needs of companies and private households and future-proof solutions in the region”. Towns and municipalities in the district of Meißen have a great interest in improving broadband coverage. Experts from aconium provided answers to the questions:
- What broadband speeds are possible today or in the foreseeable future, particularly in the business parks?
- What business solutions are possible?
On March 21 of this year, Großenhain received the funding decision for funds from the billion-euro federal program for broadband expansion.
“I am very pleased that the application from the town of Großenhain was also taken into consideration and that funding of around nine million euros was granted by the Federal Ministry of Transport and Digital Infrastructure,” said Thomas de Maizière and encouraged other municipalities in his constituency to take advantage of this funding.
The federal funding program for broadband expansion provides technology-neutral funding for network expansion. The funding rate is 50 to 70 percent of the eligible costs. As the federal program can be combined with state and EU funding programs, the funding rate can be increased to up to 90 percent. A total of around 4 billion euros is available for broadband funding from federal funds.
For companies in rural regions, digital transformation offers the opportunity to optimize processes and tap into new markets, thereby gaining a decisive economic advantage.
Tim Brauckmüller, Managing Director of aconium GmbH “What applies to private households is even more true for companies. Many business applications sometimes require high bandwidths and demand high-performance infrastructures – especially in rural areas! This is where broadband access infrastructure is needed in order to make the location competitive and attractive for companies and families.”