The district of Weilheim-Schongau in Upper Bavaria is one of the strongest economically in the whole of Germany. Due to its good infrastructure and economic growth, the district town of Weilheim was even named a regional center in May 2018 and thus assumes the supply function in the form of medical services and various shopping facilities for Weilheim-Schongau and four other districts south of Munich. The town of Weilheim, which has a population of 23,000, is home to around 2,500 commercial enterprises – mostly small and medium-sized companies. The German Aerospace Center (DLR) also has a site here. To ensure that Weilheim can continue to grow economically, the town is focusing on broadband expansion.
Expansion already 80 percent complete
The official ground-breaking ceremony for the subsidized broadband expansion in Weilheim took place in May 2018. Since then, the construction work has been progressing well. “80 percent of the construction work has already been completed. This means that the main supply route has essentially been completed,” explains André Behre, authorized signatory at Stadtwerke Weilheim and project manager for broadband expansion in the district town. In total, around 172 kilometers of fiber optic cable are to be laid in empty conduits with a total length of 85 kilometers. This will require 61 kilometers of civil engineering work.
To get the fiber optic cables underground in Weilheim, the town decided to use the flush drilling method in some areas. In this method, a kind of tunnel is drilled into the ground – without having to dig up the surface. The drill then pulls an empty conduit through this tunnel, into which the fiber optic cables can later be laid. “The flush drilling method has proven its worth. We were able to use it on more stretches than planned. We even achieved a small time advantage,” says Behre. The smooth expansion of the broadband network also works thanks to the support of the regional office of aconium GmbH in Munich, which is overseeing the expansion. “The collaboration with the regional office has always been very pleasant. It’s great that we’re all pulling in the same direction,” praises Behre: “As things stand at the moment, we expect to be finished in July 2019.” The entire network will then be put into operation and 278 households, 57 companies and the public administration will be connected to the new broadband network.
The DLR ground station in Weilheim has also applied for a connection to the faster broadband network. The German Aerospace Center uses the ground station to exchange information with satellites in space and at the same time determine the exact flight path of the spacecraft. High bandwidths are extremely important for these calculations. The ground station already has access to fiber optic internet, but: “An additional data connection provides additional security,” explains Martin Häusler, head of the DLR ground station in Weilheim. If one line fails – due to road works, for example – the ground station’s projects can be continued via the second data connection. “And last but not least, we are of course also thinking about the future,” says Häusler: “Even if the existing fiber optic connection still has reserves in terms of data capacity, these may be exhausted at some point.”
Digital education in Weilheim
In addition to the DLR ground station, private households and local companies, there will be another major beneficiary of the broadband expansion in the district town in Upper Bavaria: “We have a very big focus on the digitalization of schools,” explains Behre from Stadtwerke Weilheim. A new vocational school is to be built in spring 2019, which will be connected to the high-speed broadband network as soon as the new building is completed. All existing schools in the district town will receive new internet access this year. “After the summer vacation, all schools should have a connection to the high-speed broadband network,” says Behre. This means that the new school year in Weilheim can start digitally.
