DANUBE BÖHMERWALD. Internet users in the Rohrbach district are used to waiting because of underground bandwidths, but the situation is slowly becoming unbearable in many communities. Working from home becomes a gamble when the connection keeps breaking down. While the fiber optic age has already dawned in some communities, others are hoping for the next funding call from the federal government. The felt download bar in terms of fast internet has now jumped up at least a little bit: Federal Minister Elisabeth Köstinger has announced the start of the “Access 7” funding call, to which the municipalities in the Danube-Bohemian Forest region that are not yet supplied with fiber optics have already responded have eagerly awaited. Numerous broadband activists have been involved in a Leader project for fiber optic expansion in the region: the 60 percent expressions of interest required for submission were collected with a combined effort. The project ended at the end of 2020 (!), and since then we have had to wait for this funding call, the start of which has been delayed by almost two years.
It is (only) now being submitted
“Now the time has finally come: Fiber Service Oberösterreich submits all areas in the region that have not yet been developed so that they can be expanded nationwide if an award is made,” says the current Leader announcement. It is precisely for this reason that the concerted submission by Fiber Service is so important, since not only profitable areas are submitted, but also all remote areas are included. “Although alternative providers guarantee the expansion of the town centers if they are awarded a contract, they often fillet the municipal areas and do not submit more remote areas. They are then left over and hardly have a chance of being expanded – but that’s exactly where the need is often greatest,” says the leader region. Of course, the waiting does not end with the submission: After the submission deadline, the people of Rohrbach have to wait until autumn again. Precisely because of the cross-community submission, however, one hopes for a bid this year.
Source: Nachrichten
