Successful municipal and regional projects in over-coming gaps in broadband provision - ministry of economics and technology - atene KOM
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1 Successful municipal and regional projects in over- coming gaps in broadband provision. A r e s e a rc h o n b e h a l f o f t h e ministry of economics and technology.
Successful municipal and regional projects in overcoming
gaps in broadband provision.
2
Imprint
Purchaser
Ministry for Economics
Scharnhorststraße 34-37
D-10115 Berlin
Germany
Text and Editing
Agentur für Kommunikation und kommunales Management (atene KOM) GmbH
Managing Director: Tim Brauckmüller
Amtsgericht Berlin Charlottenburg HRB 111699
Editorial Deadline
23. Februar 2010
Authors
Tim Brauckmüller
Gordon Albrecht
Eike Gutt
Jörn Henrich-Matejka
Contact
atene KOM GmbH
Georgenstraße 24
D-10117 Berlin
Telefon: 030 6098990-0
Telefax: 030 6098990-99
E-Mail: info@atenekom.eu
www.atenekom.eu
3
Content
1. Abstract.......................................................................................................................... 4
2. Method of research...................................................................................................... 6
2.1 Outline of the problem . .................................................................................................. 6
2.2. Aims .................................................................................................................................... 6
2.3. Data collection . ................................................................................................................ 7
2.4. Subject of the study . ....................................................................................................... 8
2.5. Sample of best practice examples................................................................................. 8
3. Best practice examples.............................................................................................. 10
3.1. Examples from an economic perspective ................................................................. 11
3.2. Examples from an administrative point of view ......................................................19
3.3. Examples from a technological perspective ............................................................28
3.4. Other best practice examples......................................................................................35
4. Conclusions..................................................................................................................36
4.1. Challenges for project participants ...........................................................................37
4.2. Demand analysis, feasibility studies and information events...............................38
4.3. Topographical conditions and choice of technology .............................................39
4.4. Financing: opening markets and funding .................................................................39
4.5. Solution partners of communes and regions ...........................................................40
4.6. Contracts and access prices for customers . ............................................................40
5. Recommendations for action................................................................................... 42
5.1. Administrative approach . ............................................................................................42
5.2. Economic perspective ...................................................................................................45
5.3. Technological approach ...............................................................................................47
6. Checklist for municipal broadband projects.........................................................50
Successful municipal and regional projects in overcoming
gaps in broadband provision.
4
1 Abstract
In the past 15 years, the Internet has developed rapidly both technically and in content.
Whereas at the beginning only few offers were available, mainly consisting of text do-
cuments, there has been an increase in new multimedia content over the years. The
technical development, known today as web 2.0, has contributed to the fundamental
change not only in the technical conditions and standards but also in the way services
and content are used today.
The relevance of a fast internet connec- lability of qualified personnel. 3 A decis-
tion and the disadvantages of having ive factor for the location of households
poor access are basically indisputable. and small businesses is the availability
Not only in the telecommunications sec- of broadband internet and the access to
tor broadband is a central growth fac- information and the communication pos-
tor. Economic growth can be effected by sibilities that come with it. The unavaila-
improved communication possibilities.1 bility of broadband can lead to structural
Increased productivity and new areas of problems in the affected regions and can
business are connected to that and can in the worst case lead to moving away of
have a positive effect on employment in firms and young people.
the long run.2
In the past years the telecommunication
In questionnaires firms measure the same companies have invested huge amounts
importance to broadband connection as in the modernization and expansion of
to convenient traffic accessibility or avai- Germany’s broadband infrastructure.
Even in the coming years, extensive in-
1 See: OECD – The role of communication inf- vestments are planned in the develop-
rastructure investment in economic recovery ment of the network.
(2009) p. 5
2 See: Katz et al (2009): Die Wirkung des
Breitbandausbaus auf Arbeitsplätze und die 3 See: Breitbandzugang als Standortfaktor für
deutsche Volkswirtschaft Unternehmen im ländlichen Raum Baden-
Württembergs 2009
5
Today 22 million of the 24 million broad- the past years makes it possible to use
band connections are DSL connections radio linked technology to provide cus-
integrated in the classic telephone con- tomers with a high data speed. Internet
nection.4 A pioneer in the expansion is connections are now being offered more
“Deutsche Telekom AG” which as a priva- and more using radio networks which are
tized company plays a huge role in the im- based on WLAN or WiMAX. Mobile com-
provement of provision. With that Deut- munication systems have won in signifi-
sche Telekom AG plays an important role cance as a medium of transfer for large
in expansion of infrastructure especially data packages since the auction of UMTS
in rural municipalities and regions in spite frequencies. With the further develop-
of the steep competition which is carried ment of UMTS, HSPA, fast internet con-
out in price. The economic pressure has nections can be used on the way.
led to expansion being carried out only
when profitable even for the former state The research „Successful regional pro-
owned firm. jects in overcoming gaps in broadband
provision“ should show how overcoming
Competition in the telecommunica- broadband provision gaps can be achie-
tion sector has led to a diversification of ved at local and regional level. This abs-
technological approaches. Even if DSL is tract gives an overview on the results of
the widest used connection technology, this research.
alternative technologies are constantly
taking ground in market participation. 5
First firms have started laying glass fiber
cables in areas with high population den-
sity with which they directly connect their
customers. These connections, known
as „fiber to the home“ (FTTH) are consi-
dered to be a secure investment because
they provide almost unlimited band-
width. Even cable network companies are
beginning to upgrade their existing net-
work in many towns and municipalities to
facilitate use of telephone and internet
in addition to digital television recepti-
on. Thanks to this investment, 1.9 million
users are online using the TV cable con-
nection. With that, broadband using tele-
vision cable has become the second most
important connection technology.
In recent times, radio technology has
become increasingly important in es-
tablishing broadband internet connec-
tions. The technological development in
4 See: EU Commission COCOM09-29, p. 10
5 See:EU (2009): Broadband access in the EU
(COCOM09-29)
Successful municipal and regional projects in overcoming
gaps in broadband provision.
6 2 Method of Research
2.1 Outline of the problem
The increasing diversity of connection easy to solve: In 2009 the overall pro-
technology and the increasing bandwidth vision for households in Germany with
on one hand is counteracted by regions the minimum requirement of 1Mbit/s in
in which modernization of existing, or downstream was 96.7%. This figure how-
establishment of new infrastructure is ever does not show that there is a pro-
not possible or only possible at very high vision problem for small municipalities
costs due to topographical issues or low in rural areas and that some regions are
customer potential. In most of the areas completely unprovided for, these are the
that are currently under-served, the di- so called white spots.
stance between the multiplier and cus-
tomer are so large that it is not possible, These regional disparities are a result of
with the existing copper cables, to pro- a low number of potential customers in
vide a broadband internet connection rural areas. Due to the sparse settlement
based on prevalent DSL-technology. the investment costs are comparatively
At first glance, the problem of poor pro- higher than in urban areas and the profi-
vision of broadband internet seems tability is achieved a lot later.
2.2 Aims
The German federal government wants blanket coverage of broadband connec-
to give the expansion of broadband in- tion by the end of 2010
frastructure more impulses. At the be- • By 2014, 75% of households should
ginning of 2009, the federal government have connections with speeds of at least
drafted ambitious goals in the framework 50Mbit/s with the target of having blan-
of the broadband strategy6: ket coverage of such connections.
• Gaps in broadband provision should be The package of measures in the broad-
closed and there should be an efficient, band strategy envisions promoting the
use of synergies in the expansion of inf-
6 See: Broadband Strategy of the Federal Go- rastructure, guaranteeing a supportive
vernnnment (Breitbandstrategie der Bundes-
regierung, 2009) p. 5 frequency policy, a growth and innova-
7
tion oriented regulation and providing les, which inspire decision makers at local
necessary funding through different sup- and municipal councils to embark on ex-
port programs. The federal government pansion in their areas of jurisdiction. The
plays a big role in supporting the munici- initial conditions are different, in terms
pal councils. of topography, demography, political
and economical situation, existing infra-
The research carried out in the autumn of structure and commitment of local par-
2009 aimed to show how the problem of ticipants - these are important but very
broadband provision gaps can be solved individual and partly dynamic factors
at local and regional level. The core of that largely determine the success of an
the research was to show good examp- expansion project.
2.3 Data collection
The central part of the research are good contacted directly.
examples which visualize the possibili-
ties as well as the difficulties in expan- Based on the data collected with the
sion of infrastructure in different regi- questionnaire, detailed information on
ons of Germany. The documentation of the content of the project and approach
such projects differs greatly in quality was collected through semi-standardized
and quantity. This is why a standardized expert interviews with local participants
questionnaire followed by targeted in- as well as those involved in the projects
terviews were used to collect and analyze and users.
necessary information.
While data was being collected, emphasis
The questionnaire concentrated on coll- was laid on interviewing different people
ecting the main aspects of each project. involved in the same project but playing
These included the financial, size and differing roles. This procedure was to en-
time scope, the size of the provision gap, sure an objective picture of the project
the approach used as well as the main approach. The goal of the interviews was
participants and the person responsible to identify motives of action and questi-
for the project. In addition the persons ons set that were considered relevant to
responsible for all participating projects project procedure.
were requested to provide information
material such as press releases, short The research is aimed at collecting quali-
descriptions, protocols and similar docu- ty data. The most important aspect is to
ments for evaluation. get information on the approach, about
the motives behind the decisions of par-
In order to achieve a broad diversifica- ticipants and to content design of the
tion of the research and with that a large projects. This approach is maintained in
number of projects that are potentially the analysis of the data. From the qua-
interesting for the research, the questi- litative data material, hypotheses were
onnaire was electronically distributed to formulated, resulting conclusions drawn
more than 800 multipliers. In addition, and recommendations for course of ac-
responsible people from regional and tion made.
countrywide broadband projects wereSuccessful municipal and regional projects in overcoming
gaps in broadband provision.
8
2.4 Subject of study
Large structural differences were made By sketching the frameworks, the com-
clear while analyzing the projects, the plexity of each project is made clear. In-
reason being the individual frameworks terdisciplinary diversity is characteristic
under which the projects are realized. of all cases which intertwine technologi-
This leads to a multitude of strategies and cal and business administrative aspects
thesis of the players to solve the problem as well as the topographical data.
of under-provision.
Many projects are in an ongoing develop-
Among the factors that determine the ment process to meet the increasing need
framework are mainly the topography for broadband as well as accommodate
of the region at hand (settlement struc- the future demographic development. A
ture, geology, natural barriers), the size short implementation time for projects is
and form of the provision gap (number of basically desirable if it leads to solving the
households unprovided for), the adminis- problem quickly. Still, long term projects
trative situation (number of participants, that target construction of a high poten-
jurisdiction) and the resources available tial broadband infrastructure are most
(present infrastructure, resources). Each welcome.
of the investigated projects has an indivi-
dual character in terms of framework.
2.5 Sample of best practice examples
Many considerations resulted in selec- 2. Transferability of procedure
tion and characterization as an example The realization of the project or parts
of best-practice. The central aspect was of it show a pioneer approach that
fulfilment of defined success indicators could offer future projects important
which make a project a model relevant to impulses.
other regions and municipalities and at
least partly transferable. In the research 3. Foresighted solutions
at hand, success of an expansion of com- The infrastructure has been implemen-
munication infrastructure project will be ted sustainably from a financial and
measured against the following 3 indica- technological point of view. This invol-
tors: ves the bandwidth and the scalability
and the extensibility of the technical
1. Adherence to national goals. infrastructure as well as a model of fi-
The goals of the examined projects has nancing that is competitive, works pro-
to be conform with the broadband stra- fitably and guarantees a network ex-
tegy of Germany’s federal government pansion from a financial point of view.
from the year 2009, which means inf-
rastructure expansion with minimum In a further step, the chosen 30 best
of 1Mbit/s short term and planning or practice examples were categorized ac-
building a future infrastructure with a cording to the main areas of activity
minimum of 50Mbit/s. which were depicted when interviewing
the project participants. These areas of9
activity are going to be titled „economic“, practice in the category „technical“ ex-
„technological“, „administrative“ and hibit good and especially sustainable so-
„other“ in this research. The classification lutions in implementing expansion. The
in a category means that the project is a category „others“ contains examples
role model in the specified area of activity that are not directly imitable for example
and procedure seems suitable for emula- because of the specific starting situation.
tion by other regions and municipalities. Still, these projects demonstrate in some
areas interesting approaches for example
To the category „economical“ belong the technological or financial implemen-
the best practice examples which are tation that offer impulses for other regi-
role models in terms of their economical ons in their search for solutions.
framework and strategies of financing.
To the category „administrative“ belong All federal states (with the exception of
examples that demonstrate good pro- city states) were, where possible, equally
ject organization at different levels and taken into consideration in choosing.
the roles of municipal councils as well
as other participants. Examples of bestSuccessful municipal and regional projects in overcoming
gaps in broadband provision.
10
3 Best Practice
Examples
The problem of under-provision is pre- solution for the expansion of infrastruc-
sent in the different regions of Germany: ture in a given situation. They are more
the lowlands of northern Germany are of examples that have found feasible so-
affected just as the hilly landscape of the lutions in given individual situations to
Harz foothills are or the regions with pri- close provision gaps in their respective
me location in the south of Baden-Wuert- regions.
temberg. In a large number of examples, the suc-
cess is based on initiatives of citizens or
The examples that are examined in this local firms. It was often a cooperation at
research are located all over the repub- public and private level that created the
lic. Because of this, it is possible to show solutions for broadband expansion.
a variety of initial conditions which could
act as stimulus for own solutions. This is Using present infrastructure is to be con-
the case for topographical conditions as sidered sustainable and cost reducing.
well for specific political and administ- Many projects have made use of this op-
rative conditions which could differ from tion. Interesting and successful results
one federal state to another. Not only the were also brought up by the use of alter-
initial conditions are interesting, but also native technology, mostly radio techno-
the different solutions that are used in si- logy or a mix of technologies.
milar conditions.
The examples in this study are not the
conventional best-practice examples;
they do not depict the one and only valid11
3.1 Examples from an economic perspective
To the category „economic“ belong the pansion in Cuxhaven. On the basis of the
best practice examples that are role mo- help of targeted public awareness it was
dels in terms of their economical frame- possible to illustrate the necessity and
work and financial strategy. made it possible for service providers to
act fast. The expansion done by Deutsche
Municipality of Beverungen (NRW) Telekom AG was the initial spark that led
The driving force of this expansion pro- to infrastructure provision with the most
ject was a citizens’ initiative. Through the modern broadband technology. After the
commitment and competence of citizens establishment of blanket coverage of DSL
involved, different solutions were looked infrastructure there was a modernizati-
into and a necessity analysis was done. on of TV cable network. In addition there
With their support it was possible in spi- was a FTTH network built in Cuxhaven.
te of topographical hindrances to build a
wireless network which is run by a private Municipality of Mulda (SN)
internet service provider. The example shows that it is possible, in
spite of reservations towards a techno-
County of Birkenfeld (RP) logy, to regain confidence through direct
This example demonstrates that availa- dialogue. A radio based network was used
ble resources often help find a soluti- to provide a region that has difficult geo-
on. Existing networks, previously used graphic conditions with broadband in-
primarily for commercial purposes and ternet. The scalability of the technology
existing empty conduit capacity help to enables the network to be run profitably
provide services cost effectively. Pooling with less than 50 users and can quickly be
demand makes a calculation of profitabi- expanded at any time.
lity possible. Confidence of the municipal
council and citizens in this case provided Municipality of Oerel, districts of Oerel
a credible solution. und Barchel (NI)
The municipality decided on a public-
Municipality of Blankenheim, district of private cooperation with a third party
Alendorf, Ripsdorf and Waldorf (NRW) provider to provide blanket coverage
To provide the component localities of broadband internet, after the local ser-
the municipality of Blankenheim with vice provider declined service provision.
broadband internet connection, a citi- The participation of the municipal coun-
zens’ initiative was decisive for the suc- cil in the company „Oerel, unser Ortsnetz
cess. The costs of infrastructure provision co ltd” secures its say in the future. The
not covered by municipal financing could transparent approach of the mayor and
be avoided only through own effort. See trading off the alternatives with the ci-
below for a detailed description of this tizens increased confidence in the solu-
example. tion finally agreed upon. It was thus not
difficult to involve inhabitants in the rea-
City of Cuxhaven (NI) lization so as to reduce costs. The FTTH
Founding a citizens’ initiative and the technology implemented is future orien-
commitment of many helpers was what ted and guarantees even in a number of
placed emphasis on the necessity of ex- years a high performance connection.Successful municipal and regional projects in overcoming
gaps in broadband provision.
12
Municipality of Seddiner See, district municipality. See below for a detailed de-
Neuseddin (BB) scription of this example.
This example makes it clear that the
choice of technical components plays Municipality of Wenden(NRW)
a vital role in the reliability of a wireless With the implementation of a reliab-
solution. In spite of the bankruptcy of a le WLAN technology it was possible to
service provider, a new network provider make provision for an entire industrial
managed to regain the confidence of the area which would have remained under-
population in the application of wireless serviced. Wireless technology proves to
technology. be efficient enough to provide compa-
nies in an industrial areas with necessa-
Municipality of Sternenfels (BW) ry services for example support of VoIP
The example in Sternenfels shows the ne- systems. The decisive factor for this was,
cessity of looking for alternative partners apart from the technical solution, the
even if they are not in the industry when joint financing of the project. The com-
established service providers refuse to mune provided loans that made the de-
cooperate. Only getting in touch with velopment possible and that made the
the local administrative union Bodensee- industrial property attractive for rent or
Wasserversorgung and the Sparkassen- acquisition.
IT made it possible to reach not only the
company Hartchrom-Schoch but also Two best practices will be presented in
the population and the companies in the more detail in the following section.
Municipality Blankenheim, districts Alendorf, Ripsdorf and
Waldorf
State Through the effort of about 60 citizens
in the municipality of Blankenheim, a
North Rhine-Westphalia 4km distance was dug up to lay glass
fibre cable. This made provision of new
Area connections possible by the use of an
existing backbone within a very short
50 km²
time.
Population
1,120
Population density
22 inhabitants per km²
1. Initial situation
Blankenheim is located about 27 km sou- Eifel. Blankenheim is divided in 17 bo-
th-west of the district town Euskirchen, roughs. Due to many streets and isolated
on the west boarder of the Ahrgebirge/ farmsteads, the area is very scattered.13
The area, two thirds of which is fores- more than 384 kbit/s downstream, be-
ted, has an average difference of 100m cause of the large distances to the main
with the highest altitude at 500m above multipliers. Coaxial and/or TV cable net-
sea level. 3 of the 17 boroughs, Alendorf, work is not available in those 3 districts.
Waldorf and Ripsdorf, are especially un- Data connection via radio service is not
der-serviced. possible in most areas due to inadequate
The existing copper cable does not allow network coverage.
2. Scope and Technology
Description of applied technology speed connection with 16Mbits/s maxi-
To install broadband in the affected dis- mum. In addition to the excavations, the
tricts Alendorf, Waldorf and Ripsdorf it citizens had to provide related road cons-
was necessary to install a faster con- truction and landscaping.
nection to the multiplier of Deutsche Te-
lekom in Ahrmühle. The multiplier was Declaration of speed, tariff arrange-
previously fed by copper cable and had ments and pricing:
to be equipped with up to date circuitry. * up to 2,048 kbit/s downstream and up
According to Deutsche Telekom there is a to 192 kbit/s upstream, €29,95 a month,
glass fibre backbone available 3,9 km off 12 month term of contract
Ahrmühle close to the town Esch on the * up to 6,016 kbit/s downstream and up to
route Cologne – Trier. 576 kbit/s upstream, €39,95 a month, 24
month term of contract
To connect the multiplier to the backbone * up to 16,000kbit/s downstream and up
it is necessary to install a glass fibre cable. to 1,024 kbit/s upstream, €49,95 a month,
In three months’ time about 60 citizens of 24 term of contract
the affected districts dug a 60cm deep
pipe route in which they embedded duct- All packages offered included an internet
work which was provided by Deutsche Te- flat rate. There is a one-time connection
lekom. The district Waldorf is located on fee of €59,95. The provider offers instal-
this route and could get connected during lation services for €69,98. The customer
the initial work. receives a splitter free of charge in the
mail. It is possible to order a WLAN rou-
The glass fibre cable got connected to the ter for an additional monthly fee. Voice-
multiplier in Ahrmühle. The districts Rips- over-IP is possible in all options. Triple-
dorf and Alendorf, both are about 1,5km Play-service is available for an additional
off Ahrmühle and over this distance the monthly fee.
existing copper cables can provide a high
3. Project description
End of 2006 the district mayor of Rips- inquiries the district mayor contacted the
dorf in the municipality Blankenheim was local telephone provider via mail. When
confronted with the problem of missing he did not receive a reply, he initiated a
broadband internet for the first time. petition to put emphasis on his request.
Particularly younger citizens of Ripsdorf About 300 citizens of Ripsdorf signed the
addressed this several times. Due to these petition.Successful municipal and regional projects in overcoming
gaps in broadband provision.
14
In early 2007 the municipality again tur- ment of the pipes.
ned to the provider with this petition and
another letter. A couple of month later In late march the excavations began on-
a citizen of neighbouring Waldorf pre- time. The municipality provided an exca-
sented an idea to the district mayor to vator free of charge. The volunteers were
connect the multiplier to the glass fibre assigned to different shifts during six day
backbone of Telekom near Esch, 3,9km a week to excavate the 3,9km long and
off Ripsdorf. 60cm deep pipe route.
This idea was presented to Deutsche Te- The provider had previously delivered the
lekom and they were willing to negotiate. pipes and the lava sand needed. During
In early 2008 they presented an offer at the excavations a contact person of the
the city hall. The municipality was left provider was present and documented
with two options: 1. The provider deve- the forthcoming. The pipes were installed
lops the connection and the municipality end of May 2009. A contractor of the
will be presented with the bill or 2. Muni- provider connected the glass fibre cable.
cipality and citizens will provide all neces- Finally the multiplier got rewired and up-
sary labour to install the pipes needed to graded.
connect the multiplier to the backbone.
The second option was chosen due to la- An open council was held to thank the vo-
cking funds and so municipality and citi- lunteers for their work and commitment
zens dug and installed the pipes themsel- and to report the completion of the ins-
ves. tallation.
An open council of municipality and pro- The provider informed the audience
vider was held shortly after to inform all about the possibilities that were given
citizens of the three districts. A great ma- and offered by the new broadband-inter-
jority approved of the plan, to install the net connection. The customers were con-
pipes themselves to save funds. 60 citi- nected in late August.
zens volunteered to take part in the con-
struction works. Meanwhile engineers Afterwards the municipality received a
and technicians of the provider started to large number of inquiries of other muni-
survey the area and lay down the place- cipalities about their experiences.
4. Type and amount of financing
Due to the commitment of Blankenheim nal cost level. The municipality provided
citizens the costs were reduced signifi- an excavator and wasn‘t burdened with
cantly. This enabled the provider to con- any other costs.
nect the households affected on a ratio-15
Planning costs in Amount of granted
0 0
EUR aids in EUR
Cost for building up Name of funding
not specified -
in EUR programme
Amount of additio-
Municipal contribu-
0 nal financing means 0
tion in EUR
in EUR
Network open to the Refinancing of net-
yes not specified
market work (date)
5. Conclusion
The commitment of many volunteering Solely this effort could avoid the cost for
citizens was crucial to provide broadband the development, for which the munici-
internet to the districts of Blankenheim. pality did not have funds.Successful municipal and regional projects in overcoming
gaps in broadband provision.
16
Municipality of Sternenfels
The inclusion of alternative project
State partners and utilisation of existing in-
frastructure of Bodensee-Wasserver-
Baden-Wuerttemberg sorgung as well as community-owned
empty conduits allowed the connection
Area of, a so far under supplied, community.
17.32 km²
Population
2,800
Population density
162 inhabitants per km²
1. Initial situation
Sternenfels is the northernmost muni- The municipality Sternenfels, consisting
cipality in the Enuresis in Baden-Wuert- of the two districts Sternenfels and Die-
temberg. It‘s located about 20km linear fenbach, which were covered insufficient-
distance to Pforzheim in north-eastern ly. Parts of Sternenfels were covered with
direction and about 38km east of Karls- DSL light while Diefenbach didn‘t have
ruhe. Just over a half of the municipal area perspective to be covered. Both industrial
is forested. areas weren‘t connected to broadband.
2. Scope and technology
Description of applied technology Starting at the pumping station two glass
Different technologies were used to ex- fibre bundles were run, one in the direc-
tend broadband coverage in Sternenfels. tion of Sternenfels and the other towards
Businesses received access via glass fibre Diefenbach. This was done in an open
cable. Households got covered via WLAN construction method on an unsurfaced
and licence-free Pre-WiMAX. route to avoid the necessity of tearing up
pavement.
For the main connection to Sternenfels
the glass fibre cable of Zweckverband One of the glass fibre cables was placed
Bodensee-Wasserversorgung was used. in open construction to the outskirts of
This cable was originally installed to sup- Sternenfels. From there it runs in pre-
ply a steering mechanism for a pumping existing municipal pipes. In Sternenfels
station. Since several fibres of the cable itself the glass fibre cable runs to the Te-
remained unused it didn‘t require a great leGIS Innovation centre. There a server
effort to realise a connection to an inter- and all necessary technical equipment
net-backbone of Sparkassen-IT in Pforz- had been installed. To reach the industri-
heim. al park in the north-west of the town the17
cable has been installed again in munici- 10Mbit/s and the highest service-level
pal pipelines and then open construction. for €1400 a month and another tariff
That way several businesses in the indus- with balanced bandwidth of 4Mbit/s and
trial park received access to FTTH. standard service-level for €289 a month.
The service-level regulates contractual
The connection of the households in Ster- conditions such as scope of service, re-
nenfels was managed by establishing a sponse time, promptness of handling as
wireless connection. Starting at the Tele- well as availability. Connection speed can
GIS building Wireless GmbH transmitted be scaled up to 10Gbit/s upon customer
a focused signal to a radio station on the request.
Schlossbergturm. From there a Pre-Wi-
MAX-Network supplies households and In Sternenfels Wireless GmbH offers a
businesses alike in Sternenfels. connection with 2Mbit/s downstream
and 512kbit/s upstream for €29,90 a
Also starting at the TeleGIS-building ano- month. An additional €150 are charged
ther cable was installed to supply Diefen- upon configuration to cover the cost of
bach. On the way to Diefenbach a branch the modem.
to the local industrial parks was installed
too. This way the connection of the resi- In Diefenbach Skytron supplies all resi-
ding company Hartchrom-Schoch was ding businesses and households wireless
warranted. In Diefenbach then a single with a balanced bandwidth between 1
radio/transmission tower was connec- and 20 Mbit/s for €19,99 a month. Cus-
ted to the net from which Skytron provi- tomers receive a basic supply/connec-
des WLAN to households and businesses tion for €19,99 a month. For higher speed
alike. connection each additional Mbit/s up- or
downstream is charged with an additional
Declaration of speed, tariff arrange- €1,49 a month. A one-time connection/
ments and pricing configuration fee of €149,99 is charged.
Those businesses located in the indus- Telephone service is included.
trial parks have access to FTTH with is
provided by Sparkassen-IT Pforzheim.
They offer two different speed- and ser-
vice-options. Customers can choose bet-
ween a tariff with balanced bandwidth of
3. Project description
The original cause for this project was the were sought after. This included contact
fact, that Hartchrom-Schoch, a worldwi- to institutions which don‘t usually serve
de operating company, wanted to install as providers like the Sparkassen-IT Pforz-
itself in Diefenbach while providing 200 heim Calw and the Zweckverband Boden-
jobs. They declared a glass fibre connec- see-Wasserversorgung.
tion a requirement. To pave the way, the
municipality Sternenfels contacted se- Two fact were determined:
veral providers. None of them was willing 1. The Sparkassen-IT had plans to moder-
to provide a glass fibre connection for nize their network in the area. This also
Hartchrom-Schoch. So other solutions meant to connect the Sparkasse in Ster-Successful municipal and regional projects in overcoming
gaps in broadband provision.
18
nenfels via glass fibre cable. Sternenfels gave access to its own pipe-
2. The pumping station of the Zweckver- lines since the inner-city earthwork (tea-
band Bodensee-Wasserversorgung are ring up and refinishing pavement) makes
equipped withglass fibre cables to na- the biggest costs when installing cables.
vigate and control the station. This also Thereby the costs for Sparkassen-IT
applies to the pumping station which is (which would have had to do this to con-
located between Diefenbach and Ster- nect Sparkasse Sternenfels) were redu-
nenfels. ced so radically that the connection of
the industrial parks as well as the points
On this basis the municipality Sternenfels of presence were covered.
initiated a dialogue with Sparkassen-IT
and Zweckverband Bodensee-Wasser- Sparkassen-IT took control of the project.
versorgung. When the ‚Ministerium für They planned the network, coordinated
Ernährung und ländlichen Raum‘ in Ba- and supervised the implementation and
den-Wuerttemberg had approved of the supplied the administration technolo-
use of some fibres of the glass fibre strand gy. All parties involved emphasized the
of Bodensee-Wasserversorgung, project good cooperation and un-bureaucratic
development began. approach. Small problems were solved
quickly before they could interfere and
It seemed obvious that the municipality severely disrupt progress.
4. Type and amount of financing
No costs arose to the municipality. The kassen-IT was the access of Sparkasse
costs were covered by Sparkassen-IT due Sternenfels. Due to the saving potential
to the already planned expansion. Refi- by using the municipal pipelines, as alrea-
nancing the network is irrelevant in this dy mentioned, access to the districts and
case because the original goal of Spar- industrial parks could be co-financed.
Planning costs in Amount of granted
0 0
EUR aids in EUR
Cost for building up Name of funding
176,000 -
in EUR programme
Amount of additio-
Municipal contribu-
0 nal financing means 0
tion in EUR
in EUR
Network open to the Refinancing of net-
no not specified
market work (date)
5. Conclusion
The example Sternenfels indicates the Wasserversorgung and Sparkassen-IT fi-
necessity to try for alternative or even nally made it possible to not only connect
outside-the-industry partners if esta- Hartchrom-Schoch, but also households
blished providers refuse cooperation. and other businesses in Sternenfels.
Contacting the Zweckverband Bodensee-19
3.2 Examples from an administrative point of view
In the category „administrative“ fall ex- possible. By the means of a financial plan
amples that show an exemplary project based on solidarity, in which all partici-
management on different levels as well as pants contributed the same amount, it
depict the role of the commune and other was possible for small or economically
participants well. weak municipalities to participate in the
provision solution. See below for a de-
Municipality of Grambow (MV) tailed description of this example.
By providing existing buildings such as
the city hall or empty silos, local network County of Pinneberg (SH)
service providers are able to provide so- The example of the Pinneberg district
lutions for few customers. The coope- makes it clear, how with a coordinated
ration between communes and service approach the provision situation can first
providers encourages the realization of be documented and then by strategic
solutions. planning sustainably be improved. The
inter-municipal planning was conducted
County of Passau (BY) transparently and made cost reduction
The county of Passau was able to increase possible.
efficiency and effectiveness in developing
broadband significantly by establishing County of Potsdam-Mittelmark (BB)
a coordinating office and a central con- Through a cooperation between muni-
tact point for the district population and cipal and service provider, duties can be
their mayors. It was important that all 38 delegated thus reducing the cost of con-
communes pull together to speak with nections for areas with low population
one voice when negotiating with service density with only few people participa-
providers. Equally important was institu- ting in connection. The price conscious
tionalizing the exchange with the service approach is well covered in wireless tech-
providers by organizing regular and plan- nology.
ning meetings. Developing a register for
empty conduits helps to build synergies Municipality of Stubenberg (BY)
in civil engineering and laying of broad- Stubenberg shows that it is possible in
band networks afterward. Facilitating a spite of topographical difficulties to rea-
district wide geoinformationsystem and lize a wireless connection. The project can
coordinating offices eases inter-regional be refinanced within a short amortization
planning. period. With the support of local crafts-
man firms a fast paced development can
Municipalities of “Pfälzer Bergland” (RP) be achieved.
Advantages of cooperation are clearly
depicted in the example of the munici- Municipality of Twistetal-Gembeck (HE)
palities in the Palatinate hill country. A This example shows that there is a possi-
research of the necessity and feasibility bility for very small municipalities to get
showed at first the potential and the pro- broadband internet access. Through pri-
blems of the region. The resulting division vate initiative a regional service provider
of provision areas made it finally possib- was established. More areas were con-
le to connect municipalities in which no nected and the cooperation among par-
economic development was otherwise ticipants led to a cost effective solution.Successful municipal and regional projects in overcoming
gaps in broadband provision.
20
The factors influencing success can be sity and cooperation of all participants
identified as: initiative and commitment (university, service provider, town and
of citizens, detailed agreement process municipal councils), the demand and the
between participating parties, transpa- infrastructure were documented and
rency of all steps in planning and imple- the first steps made towards closing the
mentation as well as using available inf- provision gap. At the beginning of 2009
rastructure to reduce total costs. it was decided that the work on all pro-
jects should be coordinated in a munici-
City of Wernigerode (ST) pal broadband centre. See below for a de-
Through the initiative of the Harz univer- tailed description of this example.
Municipalities of Pfaelzer Bergland
State Areas with an unfavourable situati-
on of premises can also be connected
Rhineland-Palatinate by careful segmentation and detailed
planning.
Area
440 km²
Population
53,000
Population density
120 inhabitants per km²
1. Initial situation
The communities of Pfaelzer Bergland The name of the region already indica-
are located in the south-west of Rhine- tes that it is rather hilly and spotted with
land-Palatinate at the Saarland-border. small forests.
The 132 municipalities in total, cooperate
in tourism and projects that improve the Only some communities were supplied
economic structure. with DSL at a sufficient rate. Most com-
munities only had access to bandwidth
The service-area includes the collective far below 1 Mbit/s or DSL wasn‘t available
municipalities Waldmohr, Schoenenberg- throughout the community. Neither up-
Kuebelberg, Glan-Muenchweiler, Kusel, grading nor extending the DSL network
Altenglan, Wolfstein and Lauterecken was sought after by the established pro-
and the administrative district Kusel viders. Very few communities had access
as well as the collective municipalities to modernized TV-cable which allows
Bruchmuehlbach-Miesau and Meisen- broadband-internet connection.
heim and also parts of the districts Bad
Kreuznach and Kaiserslautern.21
Two providers of radio linked technology At the start of the project there was a
are operating in the area. The first pro- total of 46 fully covered communities,
vider covers seven communities. The se- 40 communities that in parts were not
cond provider covers communities, but adequately supplied (updated in parts),
two of them are only partially covered. 38 not adequately supplied (DSL Light
Neither the radio linked service providers available in parts) and 3 not supplied (no
nor the TV-cable company had plans to DSL available). 5 communities didn‘t offer
develop the coverage. any information.
2. Scope and technology
Description of applied technology connected to a separate local backbone.
The area to be supplied consists of a mul- The company inexio KGaA develops and
titude of small local municipalities. To provides the areas 1 to 3. This provider
allow an economically reasonable deve- installs its own DSL-infrastructure. Pre-
lopment, these municipalities cannot be existing cross-connects are connected
looked at as isolated units. to broadband using directional radio
To cover the area soon to be supplied technology. The connection between
using a single local backbone with the the splitter and the customer is supplied
corresponding broadband technology using the standard telephone lines.
would require a major financial invest-
ment which many small businesses are A radio-only connection is supplied whe-
not able to raise. re the cost for a connection via cross-
connect exceeds the financial potential.
To allow for the development nonethe- The forth area is accessed and provided
less, the communities were divided in 4 by the consortium STUD IT and FGN (fun-
development areas based on economic, damental generic networking GmbH). A
topographical and technical aspects. radio-only connection will be installed.
This allowed for the application of diffe- All areas will be operating in summer
rent technologies and a reduction of the 2011 at the latest.
overall cost. Each area would be supplied
in the most cost effective way possible Information on speed as well as rating
rather than being bound to one provider and pricing
with its preferred type of technical infra- The basic service offers 6Mbit/s
structure. downstream and 512 kbit/s upstream. It
includes telephone service and a data flat
By defining those access areas it was seen rate. Customers will be charged €29,95 a
to that an equal mix of economically at- month or €34,95 including a telephone
tractive and less attractive communities flat rate Service with 16Mbit/s down- and
was achieved to ensure supply of econo- 1Mbit/s upstream costs €39,95 a month,
mically less attractive areas. 25Mbit/s down- and 2Mbit/s upstream
€44,95 a month, 50Mbit/s down- and
By splitting the area into four indepen- 2Mbit/s upstream €49,95. A telephone
dent parts, and therefore projects, made flat rate is already included in these three
it impossible to give technical details. options. The minimum contract duration
Two companies are involved in the im- is 24 month.
plementation. The four areas will each beSuccessful municipal and regional projects in overcoming
gaps in broadband provision.
22
The provider in the fourth area also of- already include telephone service and flat
fers several options. The basic service, rate Service with 16 Mbit/s costs €44,95
which does not include telephone ser- a month, 25 Mbit/s €49,95 a month and
vice, offers 3Mbit/s down- and 256kbit/s 50 Mbit/s €59,95 a month. The upstream
upstream at €29,75 a month. This tariff rate for these three options is 1 Mbit/s. An
can be chosen including a telephone flat additional €99 are charged upon installa-
rate at €37,50 a month. All options with tion. All tariffs include a ‚proper‘ flat rate
more bandwidth than the basic service Minimum contract duration is 24 month.
3. Project description
The communities in Pfaelzer Bergland are ber of potential customers. The minimal
very insufficiently connected to broad- requirement for offers was a 3Mbit/s
band. Since it wasn‘t possible to supply downstream rate (no specific upstream
individual communities on an economi- rate required) and a flat rate at no more
cally justifiable basis, a joined approach than €30 a month.
of all municipalities in Pfaelzer Bergland
was agreed on. The municipalities in the The four offers presented all lacked eco-
area to be supplied are closely connected nomical responsible development costs
to each other and do understand them- (€400,000 to 600,000) and offered to
selves as one region. A comprehensive supply some communities only or plan-
agreement was formed amongst the mu- ned to charge fees for broadband service
nicipalities. The Wirtschaftsservicebüro that exceeded reasonable prices espe-
of the administrative district Kusel coor- cially for households.
dinates the project.
The interest determination procedure
At first demand levels of all communities was based on 83 municipalities that were
in Pfaelzer Bergland were evaluated. The interested in participating. This number
results revealed that only 35% of all com- was determined during the evaluation of
munities were sufficiently connected to demand levels.
broadband. 30% were connected in parts,
31% had no broadband available at all or After a registration period 76 of 132 mu-
at rates below 1Mbit/s. 4% of communi- nicipalities agreed to engage in the pro-
ties didn‘t provide data. ject. Now there were 4,000 households
and 90 businesses left as potential cus-
All municipalities, even those with suf- tomers.
ficient broadband access, agreed to take
part in a joint broadband development The coordinating office in Kusel then
program. This offered 4200 households commissioned a feasibility study about
and 110 businesses as potential custo- the development of a broadband net-
mers. work. It was the intention of the study to
evaluate the participating communities in
An interest determination procedure was terms of topographical, economical and
held based on this data. It was the goal of technical aspect. Topographical aspects
this procedure to find internet providers help to identify negative factors such as
that were willing to provide all municipa- natural elevations that could cause pro-
lities with broadband, based on the num- blems in installing directional radio tech-23
nology between to places. The evaluation up in four areas. All of those areas were
of technical aspect shows if i.e. a back- presented as separate projects to tender.
bone is available or if the is a grass fibre
section nearby that could be used to ins- The bidding has been settled. The con-
tall a new backbone. tract for the areas 1 to 3 were awarded to
inexio KGaA, the contract for area 4 to the
The economic evaluation added informa- consortium STUD IT and FGN (fundamen-
tion about i.e. number of potential custo- tal generic networking GmbH) in Kaisers-
mers and supply locations. Close atten- lautern.
tion was paved that each area of the four
included communities with high as well as The connections are expected to be ready
with low development costs. This should for service in summer 2011. In areas 1 and
ensure the development of economically 4 the first customers will get access this
not attractive areas. Based on this infor- year. In the areas 2 and 3 the backbone-
mation the 76 municipalities were split infrastructure has been installed.
4. Amount and type of financing
The financing was based on a solidly ag- be quantified yet, neither the number of
reement. All municipalities involved con- new customers. The subsidies will be paid
tribute equally. This helped those muni- to ensure cost-effectiveness. Due to this
cipalities with high development costs to some amounts can differ from those esti-
be connected. mated and the municipal funding in each
area can‘t be numbered until the imple-
The administration of Kusel assis- mentation is finished. The administrative
ted in applying for subsidies. A total of district pre-finances all expenditures to
€598,000 for all four areas was granted. avoid a financial overload of the munici-
The total costs of development cannot palities.
Planning costs in Amount of granted
30,000 598,000
EUR aids in EUR
Cost for building up Name of funding State program-
not yet specified
in EUR programme me
Amount of additio-
Municipal contribu-
0 nal financing means 0
tion in EUR
in EUR
Network open to the Refinancing of net-
yes not specified
market work (date)Successful municipal and regional projects in overcoming
gaps in broadband provision.
24
5. Conclusion
The example of the communities of Pfa- to also guarantee development of those
elzer Bergland points out how beneficial a communities that would not have been
joint effort can be. By analysing feasibili- supplied from a solely economical point
ty as well as requirements, problems and of view. By solidly financing this project,
potentials of the region could be identi- all parties contribute an equal amount,
fied early into the project. This resulted in small and financially weak municipalities
splitting the region in four separate areas could participate.
City of Wernigerode
State Through the cooperation of the univer-
Saxony-Anhalt sity, town and district councils, it was
possible to at first determine the provi-
sion situation and then improve it step
Area by step, through cooperation with in-
165.27 km² ternet service providers.
Population
34,161
Population density
207 inhabitants per km²
1. Initial situation
Wernigerode is a town in the district of A copper cable network exists that, due
Harz (Saxony-Anhalt). It lies at an altitude to the large distances between multiplier
of approximately 250m in the Northwest and household connections, only allows
flank at the foot of the Brocken. The east for a speed of 384kbit/s (DSL light). A
to west expansion of the town area plus glass fibre backbone that belongs to Vo-
incorporated towns and villages is 9.5 km, dafone D2 GmbH runs past the town area
the north to south expansion is 6km. The in the North. There are in addition two TV
highest point is the Brocken with an al- and/or coaxial cable networks which were
titude of 1 141m above sea level and the partly modernised in 2008 to facilitate a
lowest point is 215m above sea level. The use of broadband internet services. The
city centre is in a valley and spreads out in development of UMTS data connections
the shape of a star with hills and moun- is only partly possible.
tains on the outskirts. In the south the
town is surrounded by a forest.25
2. Scope and Technology
Description of applied technology. offers 3 possibilities of connecting citi-
There are two local exchanges in Werni- zens and firms to broadband internet:
gerode. These are located on the outs-
kirts and provide only the nearby parti- The first option was already implemen-
cipant connections with a bandwidth of a ted in June 2009. From the network nodal
maximum 6Mbit/s asymmetric or 2Mbit/s point a direction radio link (5.4 to5.8 GHz,
symmetric. Users that live further away 50Mbit/s, symmetrical) was establis-
from the exchanges and closer to the city hed to the village Hasserode 3km away.
centre attain a maximum of 384Mbit/s. In The signal was then fed into the TV and/
most cases 2 connection share a copper or coaxial cable network of the provider
line which makes it impossible to use the Heuer&Sack and currently provides 350
telephone and internet at the same time. customers with bandwidths of 6Mbit/s
Apart from that there are two network and more.
nodal points (also known as point of pre-
sence or PoP) that are part of a backbone The second option that still has not been
network which belongs to Vodafone D2 implemented requires cooperation bet-
GmbH. One of the network nodal points ween the providers. It involves feeding
is used, inter alia, by the company Tele- the signal into the copper cable network
Columbus (in the Northwest of Wernige- of the Deutsche Telekom. For this a new
rode) to feed in services to the TV cable active switching technology must be ins-
network and the other provides for the talled in the cable distribution cabinet.
north west industrial area. A further option that could so far not
be implemented involves extending the
A further backbone of the BCC GmbH glass fibre cables from the network nodal
runs parallel to high and low pressure gas point to the different boroughs so as to
pipelines past the town. To provide firms connect the Deutsche Telekom cable dis-
and citizens with better broadband con- tributors better than they are currently
nections, the firm decided in September connected. Apart from the cost intensive
2008 to lay a 7km long glass fibre cable civil engineering necessary, a new active
to the innovations and founder centre switch technology would be required ma-
located in the city centre and establish king the realization of this plan only pos-
a network nodal point there. This new sible through partial funding.
access has a symmetrical bandwidth of
622Mbit/s. At the beginning of 2009 the Information on speed as well as rating
cable was extended to a further 3km from and pricing
the newly established network nodal The rates of the three service providers
point to the industrial area Giesserweg (teleColumbus, Deutsche Telekom,Heuer
and currently to „Robert Koch-Institut“ & Sack) are oriented on the national ave-
located in the city centre rage and are between €19.90 and €49.90
a month depending on the services used
The network nodal point in the innova- in a package and/or data rates.
tions and start-up centre in WernigerodeYou can also read
