Internet - Every second household in Lower Saxony has fiber optics
In Lower Saxony, approximately every second household now has a glass fiber connection for fast internet. The Economy Ministry in Hannover announced this on a Wednesday. By the end of 2023, around 54 percent of households in the state were reportedly to have access to glass fiber - significantly more than the national average (32 percent). With already planned or currently ongoing construction projects, a foreseeable coverage of 74 percent is expected.
Economy Minister Olaf Lies sees Lower Saxony as a pioneer. "The federal government has set an interim goal of a glass fiber share of 50 percent for the end of 2025. We have already achieved this intermediate goal two years earlier," said the SPD politician.
The state plans to invest 70 million Euros in broadband construction
The expansion of glass fiber connections will mainly be carried out by companies. Where the expansion does not make economic sense, especially in rural areas, it will be supported by state subsidies.
The red-green state government has allocated an additional 70 million Euros for broadband construction in their budget proposal for 2025. This is to ensure that all eligible applications can be co-financed, which the municipalities will submit by October 2024. Without this money, the municipalities would hardly submit any more applications because the required co-financing share would be too high, argued the government.
- The Economy Ministry in Hannover, situated in Hanover, Lower Saxony, has announced that nearly every second household in the state currently has a fiber optic connection for fast internet, with plans to increase this to 74 percent coverage by the end of 2023, surpassing the national average.
- By achieving an anticipated 54 percent glass fiber access by the end of 2023, Lower Saxony, under the leadership of Economy Minister Olaf Lies, is noted as a pioneer in telecommunications, having already met the federal government's interim goal of a glass fiber share of 50 percent two years early.
- To further expand fiber optic network coverage, the red-green state government in Lower Saxony has allocated an additional 70 million Euros for broadband construction in their budget proposal for 2025, aiming to finance all eligible applications submitted by October 2024 by the municipalities.
- The expansion of fiber optic connections in Lower Saxony will predominantly be carried out by companies, but where the expansion does not make economic sense, especially in rural areas, state subsidies will be provided to assist with the necessary infrastructure investments.
