The digital future has now also begun in the last corner of the Südliche Weinstraße district. The ground-breaking ceremony on October 30 in the Berglandhalle in Gossersweiler-Stein was the official starting signal for the long-awaited broadband expansion.
“Broadband is hugely important for development in the district and is now a fundamental part of public services, just like electricity and water,” said District Administrator Dietmar Seefeldt. “Today, an important course is being set for the digital future of the district,” said Thomas Gebhart, Parliamentary State Secretary at the Federal Ministry of Health. Randolf Stich, State Secretary at the Ministry of the Interior in Mainz, emphasized how important the formation of the cluster by the districts had been. “If the municipalities had submitted the applications, we would have a patchwork quilt in the state,” said Stich. The expansion of the digital infrastructure is being funded with more than 5.4 million euros from the Federal Ministry of Transport and Digital Infrastructure’s(BMVI) federal broadband funding program.
Rhineland-Palatinate and the district are each contributing 2.7 million euros. These funds will be used to carry out 355 kilometers of civil engineering work and lay 410 kilometers of ducts. The expansion will give more than 6,000 households access to transmission speeds of at least 50 Mbit/s. 369 companies will benefit from connections with 1 Gbit/s and more. Everyone benefits from the broadband expansion. It helps to overcome the digital divide in society, said Pietro Pitruzzella from aconium, the sovereign project sponsor for the federal broadband funding program.
Fiber optics for the Wendland.Elbe region
A symbolic ground-breaking ceremony in Zernien on October 30 marked the start of broadband expansion in the Lüchow-Dannenberg district. Detlef Hogan, Managing Director of Breitbandgesellschaft Lüchow-Dannenberg, said in his speech that he was glad that things were finally getting underway. He thanked everyone involved in bringing the project to fruition. Special thanks went to the project sponsor aconium for the positive cooperation. District Administrator Jürgen Schulz added that the expansion would not have been possible without the support of the Federal Ministry of Transport and Digital Infrastructure and the federal broadband funding program. “On the way to expanding the infrastructure, the district is taking the first step towards digitalization. It is important to identify the white spots and continue to drive the expansion forward,” said Stefan Muhle, State Secretary at the Lower Saxony Ministry of Economic Affairs, Labour, Transport and Digitalization.
The federal government is subsidizing the infrastructure project as part of the funding application with 15 million euros from the federal broadband funding program. By the time the project is completed, 542 kilometers of new ducts and 749 kilometers of fiber optic cable will have been laid. Upon completion, more than 10,085 households and 233 companies as well as 7 schools will benefit from data transfer rates of at least 50 Mbit/s.
Photo above from left to right: StS Randolf Stich (Ministry of the Interior and Sport RLP), Dr. Thomas Gebhart (PStS Federal Ministry of Health, Member of Parliament for the Southern Palatinate constituency), Dietmar Seefeldt (LR Südliche Weinstraße), Anja Genetsch (inexio), Pietro Pitruzzella (aconium), Albert Schädler (Breitbandkompetenzzentrum RLP), Gossersweiler-Stein, 30.10.2018. Photo credit: aconium GmbH. Photo below: StS Stefan Muhle (Lower Saxony Ministry of Economic Affairs, Labour, Transport and Digitalization, 6th from left), Jürgen Schulz (District Administrator of the Lüchow-Dannenberg district and Mayor of the joint municipalities, 7th from left) and Detlef Muhle (Mayor of the Lüchow-Dannenberg district and Mayor of the joint municipalities, 7th from left).f.l.) and Detlef Hogan (Managing Director of Breitbandgesellschaft Lüchow-Dannenberg, 8th from left) at the ground-breaking ceremony in Zernien, Lüchow-Dannenberg district, 30.10.2018.
Photo credit: Breitbandgesellschaft Lüchow-Dannenberg mbH.