Deutsche Telekom and Glasfaser Ruhr have agreed on a large-scale cooperative FTTH expansion in the German city of Bochum.
The two companies announced the project, which will be worth a total of €185 million, at a press conference that included a number of city representatives. glasfaser Ruhr is responsible for planning and building the network. telekom will operate the network and lease the infrastructure for at least 30 years.
Together, the two companies want to promote the digitalization of the Ruhr. By 2032, Bochum, one of the largest cities in the metropolitan area, should have a complete fiber optic network. The expansion is planned to start in early 2023. By 2032, more than 134,000 direct fiber-optic connections (FTTH) will be created, with the goal that more than 90 percent of the city's households and companies will have gigabit fiber-optic connections.
The resulting fiber network will also be open to other telecommunications providers who wish to provide fast connectivity to their customers. A prerequisite for doing so is a commercial agreement under fair market economy conditions. In addition, both Telekom and Glasfaser Ruhr already have existing fiber-optic networks in Bochum. Therefore, they are working to enable both parties to use each other's existing infrastructure.
The expansion project is the first fiber optic cooperation in the Ruhr region," says the mayor of Bochum. 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 last years have shown how important home offices, telecommuting, cloud-based solutions and networks are for homes and companies. In the Bochum strategy we set ourselves the goal of further advancing the themes of digitalization, modern workplaces and services. The fiber optic network is an excellent basis for this.
The Ruhr region is one of the most populous metropolitan areas in Europe," says the Telekom board member responsible for the German business. The demand for high-performance digital infrastructure is high here. Fiberglass is the network of the future. Together with Glasfaser Ruhr, we will provide the people of Bochum with access to this network. No company can digitize Germany alone. Therefore, cooperation will continue to be a pillar of our fiber optic strategy. In our cooperation with Glasfaser Ruhr, each party contributes its share - people and companies in the field benefit from it."
Glasfaser Ruhr's Managing Director says: "By the end of 2022, Glasfaser Ruhr will have connected approximately 33,000 households in Bochum to its fiber optic network. Now we are taking the next step together with Telekom. We are pleased to have secured a strong partner for the expansion project. The regional expansion in Bochum is a huge infrastructure project, and we will now be fully committed to it.
