“It’s a start – but a good start that we can build on,” emphasized District Administrator Johann Wimberg at the symbolic ground-breaking ceremony for broadband expansion in the district of Cloppenburg. The ground-breaking ceremony on March 14, 2018 marked the start of the sustainable broadband expansion, initially in the municipalities of Cappeln, Lindern and Saterland in the district of Cloppenburg.
By the end of 2019, all expansion areas should be connected to high-speed internet connections, enabling almost 4,700 households and companies to use internet speeds of up to 50 Mbit/s. The expansion will also benefit 66 school locations. District Administrator Johann Wimberg commented on the expansion of the high-speed network: “In today’s world, high-performance broadband coverage is a decisive location factor and a prerequisite for economic growth and sustainable development in towns and municipalities.”
In his speech, Wimberg also thanked all those involved. Mayor Marcus Brinkmann (Cappeln) made it clear how great the interest in broadband expansion and faster Internet is among the population – especially in Cappeln, the youngest municipality in the country, a lot will happen as a result of the upcoming broadband expansion. The speeches were also joined by Karl-Heinz Bley, Member of the State Parliament, and Stefan Molkentin (Regional Manager of the Agency for Technology and Networks KOM (aconium), sovereign project sponsor for the Federal Ministry of Transport and Digital Infrastructure BMVI).
Stefan Molkentin emphasized the good cooperation with the district of Cloppenburg and explained that the symbolic ground-breaking ceremony laid the foundation for meeting future requirements from all areas of society in the district of Cloppenburg. The federal government is subsidizing broadband expansion in the district of Cloppenburg with around EUR 5.78 million as part of the BMVI’s federal broadband funding programme.
Photo: Mayor Marcus Brinkmann (Cappeln, 2nd from right), District Administrator Johann Wimberg (3rd from right), Katharina Deeben (Cloppenburg District Economic Development Agency, 3rd from left), Andrea Bornhorst (Cloppenburg District Economic Development Agency, 4th from left), MdL Karl-Hein Bley (5th from left), Stefan Molkentin (aconium, 7th from left) as well as representatives of the Office for Regional Development, Lower Saxony’s Broadband Competence Center and the telecommunications company carrying out the work.), Stefan Molkentin (aconium, 7th from left) and representatives of the Office for Regional Development, the Broadband Competence Center of Lower Saxony and the telecommunications company carrying out the work at the ground-breaking ceremony on 14.03.2018 in the district of Cloppenburg.
Photo credit: Landkreis Cloppenburg.