With the groundbreaking ceremony for the Saar Schools Gigabit Pact in Losheim am See on July 12, the federal government, state and local authorities laid the foundation for modern school education in Saarland: By the end of 2022, a total of 317 schools will be supplied with gigabit-fast fiber optic lines. More than 100 schools are to be equipped with gigabit-capable connections as early as this year. The measure is being funded by the federal government with around 14.3 million euros. With the contributions from the Saarland State Chancellery (around 10.5 million euros) and the local authorities (around 1.2 million euros), the project has a total funding volume of 26 million euros.
In Losheim am See, Minister President Tobias Hans, Member of Parliament Markus Uhl, the Chairwoman of the eGo-Saar special purpose association, District Administrator Daniela Schlegel-Friedrich, and inexio founder David Zimmer came together with Mayor Helmuth Harth, school principals Marc-Oliver Richter and Thomas Seiwert and Tim Brauckmüller, Managing Director of aconium GmbH, to celebrate the excavation of the first construction pit with a groundbreaking ceremony. The project has thus reached an important milestone.
Technology Council member David Zimmer, founder of inexio, also emphasized that the project is not only a fundamental prerequisite for modern learning, but also an important starting point for the further gigabit expansion in the region. In close cooperation with other players, Saarland wants to achieve a common goal: Gigabit for all. To this end, the state is providing additional funds amounting to 100 million euros, which, together with the federal government’s funding program and the self-economic expansion of telecommunications companies, will pave the way to the gigabit future, emphasized Minister President Hans.
The Federal Ministry of Transport and Digital Infrastructure (BMVI) is providing a funding program worth billions to create the basis for nationwide and future-proof broadband coverage in Germany. By enabling gigabit funding, the federal government launched its “gray-spot funding program” on 26 April 2021. The strategy is intended to dovetail the telecommunications industry’s own expansion measures with funding measures so that the expansion of gigabit-capable fibre-optic infrastructure can be consistently rolled out across the country in the coming years.