With the ground-breaking ceremony on 18 November 2019, representatives of the federal government, the state of North Rhine-Westphalia, the district of Steinfurt, the town of Greven, Stadtwerke Greven and the Greven Economic Development Agency launched one of the largest infrastructure projects in and for Greven in the coming years.
Stadtwerke Greven will build and operate a fiber optic network for fast data transfer in the outer areas of the city. This will significantly improve the digital infrastructure in these underserved areas for the foreseeable future. The project’s key figures illustrate its scope: 1,618 households and 53 companies can be connected to the new network. Over 1,000 kilometers of fiber optic cable will be laid over a distance of more than 200 kilometers. Greven’s schools are also to be connected to the high-speed network, as they are also considered to be underserved areas according to public funding guidelines. 21 million euros in subsidies for the project come from the federal and state governments. Their declared funding objective is to provide high-performance broadband networks in underserved areas and outlying areas. With the fiber optic expansion, Greven is taking an important step into the digital future,” said Economics and Digital Minister Prof. Dr. Andreas Pinkwart. “Over 1,600 households in the town will soon be supplied with fast internet. I am delighted that North Rhine-Westphalia is leading the way and that more and more households, companies and schools can be connected to the fiber optic network with our support.” For Greven’s mayor Peter Vennemeyer, the fiber optic network is “an important component of our digital strategy.” Maximilian Steinborn from aconium GmbH, which ensures the proper allocation of funding on behalf of the federal government, also praised the project: “The town of Greven is an example of a prudent approach to regional development, as schools and companies will benefit from the new network expansion as well as private households.” The fiber optic network is to be completed within four years, according to the tender conditions. Detailed planning will determine when which area will have access to the fast network. The project is being funded by the Federal Ministry of Transport and Digital Infrastructure (federal broadband funding) and the Ministry of Economic Affairs, Innovation, Digitalization and Energy of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia.
Caption: From left to right: Ingmar Ebhardt, Broadband Coordinator at Wirtschaftsförderungs- und Entwicklungsgesellschaft Steinfurt mbH; District Director Dr. Martin Sommer, District of Steinfurt, Mayor of Greven, Peter Vennemeyer; Stefan Deimann, Managing Director of Gesellschaft zur Entwicklung und Förderung Wirtschaft Stadt Greven mbH; Maximilian Steinborn, aconium; Andrea. Martin Sommer, District of Steinfurt, Mayor of Greven, Peter Vennemeyer; Stefan Deimann, Managing Director of Gesellschaft zur Entwicklung und Förderung der Wirtschaft in der Stadt Greven mbH; Maximilian Steinborn, aconium; Andrea Lüke, Managing Director of Stadtwerke Greven GmbH; David Micheel, Gigabit.NRW office (Münster district government); Simon Werning, authorized technical representative of Stadtwerke Greven GmbH