Berlin launches plan to provide high-speed internet to 500,000 households

The move will accelerate the Gigabit Strategy and help Germany push for digitalisation and 5G adoption

On 6 October, Berlin announced that it will expand the ‘Gigabit Strategy’ by starting a joint project with Vattenfall Eurofiber. The city will use the company’s expertise to provide a massive increase in fibre optic coverage and connect more than 500,000 households and companies by 2026.

The move is a major development in the previously announced parameters of the Gigabit Strategy, which focused more on coordinating efforts between public and private stakeholders with the population. The new venture will greatly accelerate the adoption of 5G technology in the German capital and ensure it does not lag in digitalisation.

New fibre optics for everyone

Vattenfall Eurofiber is about to make an investment in the millions in the city of Berlin and local authorities are going to support that intent in every way possible. This is what State Senate representatives and company officials stated yesterday in a press release. This will, in turn, aid the rapid expansion of high-speed broadband in the city and state, as well as give hundreds of thousands of people access to super-fast internet.  

The company will use its state of the art technology to lay most of the fibre optic cables over the existing capacities of the city’s heating ducts. This decision will greatly reduce the cost of installing the cables, as well as cause minimal disruptions to infrastructure due to severely reduced engineering work.

Furthermore, access to the new fibre network will be open to all internet providers, building a typically German and highly competitive Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (SME’s) climate.

Christian Rickerts, State Secretary of the Senate Department for Economics, Energy and Public Enterprises commented: “Berlin is implementing its Gigabit Strategy quickly and supporting the expansion of high-performance broadband networks. All citizens benefit from good data connections, as they are a basis for the strength of our economy and social participation."