Deutsche Telekom and Glasfaser Ruhr have agreed on large-scale cooperative FTTH expansion in the German city of Bochum.
The companies announced the project, which will have a total value of €185m, at a press conference including a number of city representatives. Glasfaser Ruhr is to plan and builds the network. Telekom will operate the network and lease the infrastructure for at least 30 years.
The companies want to bring about a digitisation push for the Ruhr area together. By 2032, Bochum, which is one of the largest cities in the metropolitan region, should have a comprehensive fibre optic network. The expansion is scheduled to begin in early 2023. By 2032, more than 134,000 direct fibre optic connections (FTTH ) will be created and the aim is that more than 90 per cent of households and companies in the city will have a gigabit fibre optic connection .
The resulting fibre optic network will also be open to other telecommunications providers who want to provide their customers with fast connections. The prerequisite for this is a commercial agreement on fair, market-economy terms. In addition, both Telekom and Glasfaser Ruhr already each have an existing fibre optic network in Bochum. They are therefore striving for both sides to be able to mutually use the existing infrastructure.
Bochum's Lord Mayor Thomas Eiskirch commented: ‘The expansion project is the first fibre optic cooperation project in the Ruhr area. In Bochum we are building the network of the future together. An efficient telecommunications network is an important location factor for private households and companies. The past few years have shown how important home office, teleworking, cloud-based solutions and networking are for households and companies. In the Bochum strategy, we have set ourselves the goal of further promoting the topics of digitization, modern workplaces and services. The fibre optic network is an excellent basis for this.’
Srini Gopalan, Telekom board member responsible for business in Germany commented: ‘The Ruhr area is one of the most populous metropolitan regions in Europe. The need for high-performance digital infrastructure is high here. Glass fibre is the network of the future. Together with Glasfaser Ruhr we will offer people in Bochum access to this network. No company can digitise Germany alone. Cooperations are and will therefore remain a mainstay of our fibre optic strategy. In our partnership with Glasfaser Ruhr, each party contributes their strengths - people and companies on site benefit from this."
Patrick Helmes and Christian Graumann, both managing directors of Glasfaser Ruhr, added: ‘By the end of 2022, Glasfaser Ruhr will have connected around 33,000 households in Bochum to its fibre optic network. Now we are taking the next step together with Telekom. We are pleased to have gained a strong partner for the expansion project. The area-wide expansion for Bochum is a huge infrastructure project that we will now tackle together with full force.’
