Berlin: On 27 July 2017, the Federal Minister of Transport and Digital Infrastructure, Alexander Dobrindt, handed over 209 funding decisions for funds from the billion-euro federal program for broadband expansion.
In the fourth round, the Federal Ministry of Transport and Digital Infrastructure (BMVI) handed over around 865 million euros in funding to districts and municipalities, enabling total investments of 1.8 billion euros.
Alexander Dobrindt, Federal Minister of Transport and Digital Infrastructure:
“With the funding decisions, we are building around 85,000 kilometers of new fiber optics and bringing turbo Internet to underserved regions. Broadband expansion is thus gaining further momentum: since April 2016, we have already enabled a total of 290,000 kilometers of new fiber optics with our federal program. We are investing more than 3.1 billion euros in federal funds for this and creating network speeds up to the gigabit range. ”
Since April 2016, the BMVI has already approved 545 funding applications for network expansion projects throughout Germany. Municipalities and districts will receive up to 15 million federal funds to connect structurally weak areas to the fiber optic network. The federal program will provide the regions with network access of at least 50 Mbit per second.
The federal funding program provides technology-neutral funding for grid 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 four 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 is true for 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 precisely where broadband access infrastructure is needed in order to make the location competitive and attractive for companies and families. ”
Photo above: Alexander Dobrindt, Federal Minister of Transport and Digital Infrastructure, at the presentation of the funding decision on 27.07.2017 at the BMVI.
Photo below: Handover of the funding decision with Federal Minister of Transport Alexander Dobrindt
Source: BMVI