NRW Minister of Economic Affairs Pinkwart gives official go-ahead – fiber optic connections for more than 13,000 households and 2,000 companies
The official ground-breaking ceremony for the gigabit fiber optic expansion in the Warendorf district took place on 18 May 2020. Due to the coronavirus restrictions, this only took place on a small scale in compliance with social distancing regulations.
It would actually have been a much larger event in Warendorf, but then the coronavirus crisis intervened. As a result, today’s ground-breaking ceremony for the broadband expansion in the North Rhine-Westphalian district took place via video conference. The participants on site, including NRW Minister of Economic Affairs Prof. Dr. Andreas Pinkwart, Dr. Olaf Gericke, District Administrator of Warendorf, as well as the representatives of the municipalities and Tim Brauckmüller, Managing Director of aconium GmbH as project sponsor for the BMVI’s federal broadband funding program, drew a consistently positive response and were pleased that the event did not have to be canceled due to the current situation, but could still be realized directly on site thanks to a large number of protective measures.
NRW Minister of Economic Affairs Prof. Dr. Andreas Pinkwart: “The district of Warendorf is setting an important course for the digital future and is not only launching an exceptionally large and ambitious project by laying over 7,200 km of fibre optic cable. The speed at which over 13,000 households, around 2,000 companies and 50 schools are being connected is also remarkable: 50 percent of the route is being laid using the ploughing method so that the super-fast Internet connection reaches citizens quickly.”
Dr. Olaf Gericke, District Administrator of Warendorf: “The provision of a gigabit-capable network is a decisive factor for our infrastructure. The expansion of fiber optics is one of the largest investments in the history of the district of Warendorf.”
Tim Brauckmüller, Managing Director of aconium GmbH: “The importance of a resilient fiber optic infrastructure is becoming ever clearer, especially at the present time. That is why, even in these times of crisis, the gigabit expansion in Germany must be driven forward faster and with less bureaucracy in order to pave the way to the digital future for all cities, districts and municipalities. The ground-breaking ceremony in Warendorf is therefore an important milestone on the road to digitalization in rural areas.”
About the project
The ground-breaking ceremony took place for two infrastructure applications/expansion areas in the district of Warendorf. The project involves a total investment volume of 160 million euros. The BMVI is providing over 80 million euros for the expansion of high-speed Internet in these two project areas. The state of North Rhine-Westphalia is financing the expansion project with over 64 million euros, while the district’s own contribution amounts to over 16 million euros.
More than 2,500 kilometers of civil engineering work are planned as part of the construction measures, meaning that around 13,000 households, 2,000 companies and 60 institutional customers, including 50 schools, will benefit from high-speed Internet. Once the construction work is complete, commercial areas and households will have access to future-proof FTTH fiber optic networks (“Fiber-To-The-Home”).
Information on the federal broadband funding program.