On September 19, political representatives and participating companies came together in Amtsberg, Saxony, to witness the start of construction of the municipality’s high-speed broadband network in the Erzgebirge district in a festive ceremony. Instead of a symbolic spade, construction began with an excavator shovel.
The project involves 49 km of underground construction. This will involve laying 289 km of fiber optic cable in the form of FTTB (Fibre to the Basement), so that 1859 households and 223 companies will be connected to high-speed Internet. The aim is to be able to supply more than 80% of connections in the project area with 100 Mbit per second or more after the expansion.
State Secretary Stefan Brangs, Commissioner of the Saxon State Government for Digital Affairs, and Sylvio Krause, Mayor of the municipality of Amtsberg, were among those present for the ground-breaking ceremony. Ulla Vetter, branch manager of aconium GmbH, the project sponsor for the federal broadband funding program, presented Sylvio Krause with the final decision on the amount of the federal government’s grant for an operator model.
Mayor Krause emphasized the importance of fast internet for his municipality: “Especially in rural regions, the demand for a future-proof digital infrastructure is rarely met by telecommunications companies. That is why we, the municipality of Amtsberg, have taken the initiative and decided to expand the future-proof fiber optic structure. We would like to thank the federal and state governments for their support and financial assistance, but also for their advice when things got confusing. It is a huge challenge for our municipality, but it will be a great locational advantage in the future.”
Photo: Ulla Vetter (Branch Manager of aconium GmbH) presents Sylvio Krause (Mayor of the municipality of Amtsberg) with the funding decision on 19.09.2017 in Amtsberg.
Gallery: State Secretary Stefan Brangs (Saxon State Government Commissioner for Digital Affairs), Ulla Vetter (Branch Manager of aconium GmbH) and Sylvio Krause (Mayor of Amtsberg) watch the excavator at the symbolic ground-breaking ceremony on 19.09.2017 in Amtsberg; excavator and cable reel.
Photo credits: Kay-Uwe Boin/eins energie in sachsen GmbH & Co. KG