Chemnitz is expanding the fibre optic network in underserved areas
Mayor Barbara Ludwig and Roland Warner, Managing Director of eins energie in sachsen Gmbh & Co. KG, today signed the contract for broadband expansion in underserved areas of the city. The city of Chemnitz will construct the new network. The investment costs amount to around 64 million euros, which will be fully financed by the federal government and the Free State of Saxony. Construction work will begin in April 2019 and last around two years.
The company eins energie in sachsen GmbH & Co KG was awarded the contract to operate the grid following a Europe-wide tender. Once the network goes live, every household in the city will have access to an internet connection of at least 50 Mbit/s in future.
The network will be operated on a non-competitive basis so that other providers can also use the new infrastructure. The new network will supply around 10,000 homes. The length of the fibre optic cable to be laid is around 2,000 kilometres.
The project was based on a market survey in 2016, which identified areas in which less than 30 Mbit/s are available. The districts that will be fully expanded are Einsiedel, Euba, Klaffenbach and Wittgensdorf. Partial expansion is taking place in Adelsberg, Borna-Heinersdorf, Furth, Glösa-Draisdorf, Kleinolbersdorf-Altenhain and Rottluff. In addition, 65 schools in Chemnitz that do not yet have a broadband connection with at least 30 Mbit/s will also be connected to the fibre optic network. This means that all schools in Chemnitz will then have a broadband connection.
eins energie in sachsen GmbH & Co KG will be organising information events in the respective districts over the coming weeks.