The gigabit expansion in Baden-Württemberg is gaining new momentum: Deputy Minister President and Minister of Digitization Thomas Strobl will be handing over a total of 339 new funding decisions to 184 recipients in 31 urban and rural districts in the coming days. The state of Baden-Württemberg is supporting these expansion projects with a total of 408,929,810.89 euros. The federal government is contributing over 500 million euros from the federal broadband funding program. This is in addition to the municipal contribution of around 100 million euros.
Baden-Württemberg is thus continuing the successful co-financing by the federal and state governments in the expansion of digital infrastructure: a total of around 2.85 billion euros has been invested in municipal broadband expansion since 2016. The municipalities have contributed over 316 million euros. Following the expansion, over 240,000 underserved households, more than 25,000 companies and around 1,500 institutional users (including over 1,100 schools) will benefit from gigabit bandwidths.
“The current expansion projects will bring us another big step closer to our goal of having gigabit-capable infrastructures throughout the country,” said Digital Minister Strobl. “This would not be possible without the commitment and dedication of the local authorities. With their energetic actions, they are making a decisive contribution to ensuring that broadband coverage in the state is developing in leaps and bounds and that the connection rate is constantly improving.” Minister Strobl kicked off the new round of notification handovers with the Ostalbkreis expansion cluster. At Ellwangen Castle, he presented 40 municipalities, towns and special-purpose associations with co-financing notices for state funding totaling around 63.2 million euros. This will enable 8,085 households, 271 companies and 39 schools in the districts of Göppingen, Heidenheim, Ostalbkreis and Schwäbisch Hall to be supplied with gigabit-capable fiber optics.
The Federal Ministry of Transport and Digital Infrastructure is also supporting this project with around 79.8 million euros from the federal broadband funding program. Tim Brauckmüller, Managing Director of aconium, emphasized the economic and social importance of the expansion in a speech at the launch event: “Comprehensive broadband expansion with a resilient fibre optic infrastructure is the basis for successful regional development: whether for hospitals, business parks, schools and, of course, private households – the digital infrastructure forms the backbone of a sustainable economy and society.” Following the Ostalbkreis district, Minister Strobl will be handing over further decisions in Biberach, Ravensburg, the Enzkreis district, Ludwigsburg and Waldshut. The next round of handovers is already planned for October, when the remaining applications that have already been submitted will be approved.