The decision has been made. Heimerdingen says yes to fiber optic expansion. 500 households have so far opted for a fiber optic tariff. Deutsche Telekom is now starting to build the fast network. The maximum download speed will increase to up to 1 gigabit per second (GBit/s). This gives the customer a connection that offers all the possibilities for digital applications: Video streaming, gaming or working from home. It is also suitable for technologies such as telemedicine and smart homes.
Currently, 500 households are benefiting from this expansion. They have already ordered a fiber optic connection in the ongoing pre-marketing phase. Telekom will lay around 36 kilometers of fiber optic in Heimerdingen. It is also installing 17 new fiber optic network distributors (NVt).
Extensive civil engineering work is required to lay the fiber optic cables. Telekom can use trenching on 5.2 of a total of 11 kilometers of underground construction. With trenching, only narrow slots are milled into the ground surface. Trenching is five times faster than the conventional civil engineering method. Deep and long excavation pits are a thing of the past. This reduces the inconvenience for local residents.
"I am delighted at the great interest shown by the local population, which has laid the foundation for the start of work in Heimerdingen," says Mayor Michael Makurath. "With the fiber optic expansion, we are making a quantum leap in terms of bandwidth. Heimerdingen is moving up into the top German gigabit league."
District Administrator Dr. Rainer Haas emphasizes that "social and technological change benefits from a future-proof digital infrastructure. This will enable us to maintain the innovative capacity and quality of life of our district at an outstanding level and develop it further for future generations."
"I am also delighted that so many interested parties have registered for a fiber optic connection. We can get started. This ground-breaking ceremony here in Heimerdingen is also the starting signal for the expansion in the Ludwigsburg district. This is Telekom's largest fiber optic project in Germany," explains Sabine Wittlinger. He/she thanks all those responsible in the municipality, the district and the region for their support. "The first households in Heimerdingen will probably be able to use their fiber optic connection at the end of the year," says Wittlinger, Partner Manager Region Stuttgart at Deutsche Telekom.
"All municipalities that are members of the special-purpose association will have the opportunity for nationwide high-speed Internet. We are thus solving one of the most important future tasks in our district," explains Viktor Kostic, Managing Director of Zweckverband Kreisbreitband Ludwigsburg.
"Heimerdingen is an example of how, thanks to our cooperation program, not only the core cities but also suburbs have the opportunity to be expanded at an early stage if there is sufficient demand," explained Hans-Jürgen Bahde, Managing Director of Gigabit Region Stuttgart GmbH (GRS) and broadband representative for the Stuttgart region.
The expansion in Heimerdingen is the result of a cooperation between Gigabit Region Stuttgart GmbH and Deutsche Telekom. The focus of the gigabit project is the joint expansion of the ultra-fast fiber optic network. In addition, 99 percent of the population should be able to use mobile communications (LTE) by 2025. Deutsche Telekom also wants to build a high-performance 5G network. The agreement is unique in Germany in this dimension. Other companies will be able to use the resulting digital infrastructure at fair and standard market conditions.
The expansion area currently comprises 174 municipalities in the five districts of Ludwigsburg, Böblingen, Esslingen, Göppingen and Rems-Murr, as well as the state capital Stuttgart. Around 2.8 million people live in this metropolitan area. 140,000 companies are located there.
