Deutsche Telekom says it has signed a letter of intent with the Stuttgart Region government to significantly upgrade the area’s communications capabilities. The project, for which Deutsche Telekom submitted the winning bid, would see the German incumbent service provider invest 1.1 billion euros, augmented by a government funding program that could contribute up to an additional 500 million euros, to expand fiber network infrastructure throughout Stuttgart and the five surrounding districts of Böblingen, Esslingen, Göppingen, Ludwigsburg, and Rems-Murr. In all, the project would benefit 179 cities and municipalities.
In addition, Deutsche Telekom says it plans to install additional mobile sites to beef up 4G LTE coverage and set the stage for 5G mobile roll outs.
The two parties expect to sign the final contract by the end of the year. Fiber cable network deployments to business parks and municipalities would begin “immediately,” according to Deutsche Telekom. The parties aim to have 90% of company sites in business parks connected to fiber by 2022. Other deployment goals include half of all households, all business parks, and all eligible schools connected with fiber to the premises (FTTP) by 2025 and 90% of the total 1.38 million households in the region connected to FTTP by 2030. Every company site and business should be connected to the FTTP by 2030 as well.
"The letter of intent signed today represents a milestone in the ongoing digitalization of our high-tech region. It will help us meet the structural and technical prerequisites for the digital applications of the future – for businesses and residents alike,” said Dr. Walter Rogg, managing director of the Stuttgart Region Economic Development Corp. “Of all the competitors, Deutsche Telekom submitted the best binding bid by far. They can make use of existing fiber-optic networks to a large extent, which will accelerate the rollout and cut costs.”
Deutsche Telekom has pledged to provide third parties access to the network “at fair market conditions,” according to Dr. Dirk Wössner, member of the Management Board at Deutsche Telekom responsible for business in Germany. “To accomplish this, we also need a legal framework that rewards investment and provides legal certainty. Regulation must not stand in the way of this innovative partnership model, the first of its kind in Germany," he added.
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