“We don’t just want to keep pace with digitization, we want to be a pacesetter,” said Governor Thomas Stelzer at a press conference in Weibern with Economics Minister Markus Achleitner and the General Director of Energie AG, Werner Steinecker. It is about avoiding duplication of effort with the new company. So far, there has been Fiber Service OÖ, a state subsidiary, and the energy supplier’s fiber optic activities, in which the state holds a majority of 52 percent.
While Fiber Service targeted underserved communities, Energie AG was primarily active in “economically viable” areas (cities, town centers), Achleitner said. “That often led to delays and was not ideal.” Now there should be a common contact for municipalities if they want to set up and expand their fiber optic network. The management of the broadband Oberösterreich (BBOÖ) GmbH consists of Martin Wachutka (previously Fiber Service OÖ) and Thomas Matthey (previously Energie AG Oberösterreich Telekom GmbH). The company has 40 employees.
So far, the BBOÖ has supplied 300 of 438 municipalities in Upper Austria with fiber optic internet. According to the state, the degree of expansion for the supply of more than 30 Mbit/second is 85 percent. With this download rate, you can stream a film and surf the Internet with your cell phone at the same time. Achleitner also referred to the federal funding, from which Upper Austria collected more than 400 million euros from the first broadband billion, as well as to the additional state funding of 145 million euros. This will trigger investments of 900 million euros for broadband expansion in Upper Austria by 2025.
In Weibern in the Grieskirchen district, a focus is currently being placed on fiber optic expansion – along the former “Haager Lies” railway line, which has now been converted into a cycle path.
Source: Nachrichten
