Five years of planning and laying work are over: The last civil engineering work on the fiber optic expansion in Munderfing was recently completed. “Comprehensive, no matter which part of the city you live in,” emphasizes VP Mayor Martin Voggenberger. That was exactly the goal of the community that founded the community-owned company Energie-Munderfing GmbH under managing director Erwin Moser and project manager Helmut Emminger.
700 households, that is around 70 percent of Munderfinger’s citizens, now have fiber optic connections – all households have the option to do so. The connection to the house was free. “That was possible because we also operate our community-owned wind farm. Every Munderfinger is involved in the wind farm. The fact that the connection costs were now free was a return to the citizens,” says Martin Voggenberger.
One of the first communities
For many, the free connection to the house was one of the strong arguments in favor of laying fiber optics. “We all know, however, that this is an important investment in the future. The amount of data is getting bigger and bigger and is already immense”, said the mayor of Munderfingen. He is happy that his community is fit for the future. Munderfing is one of the first municipalities in Upper Austria to operate its own fiber optic network. “We also build and manage water and sewers. We invest a lot here and also earn something, so why not with the broadband expansion?” Says Voggenberger. He is convinced that this investment was the right one and assumes that it will also pay off financially in the long term. “That made a lot of sense, and we are proud that we made it,” he emphasizes, and above all thanks the former head of department Erwin Moser, who is largely responsible for this success and is widely known as a thinker and doer.
Other churches want to follow suit
Other municipalities in the Braunau and Ried districts also want to follow the example of Munderfinger. The idea of supporting these communities was born in Munderfing. “Regiohelp” with Erwin Moser and Willem Brinkert became the contact for those communities who wanted to lend a hand in expanding broadband themselves. 32 have decided in favor of this and have joined forces to form the “Glasfaser-Verbund Region Braunau” cooperative (30 from the Braunau district, two from the Ried district). The first successes were reported in August of the previous year: An investor was found, work can begin: initially in Helpfau-Uttendorf, Pischelsdorf and Feldkirchen. When the center is opened up, it will be expanded in all directions. Here, too, one goal applies: nationwide expansion. The construction time is four years.
Funded by the country
The groundbreaking ceremony for the expansion in Uttendorf was set in November. Often, however, persuasion still has to be done. Credo: The more people participate, the faster the expansion will take place.
In Munderfing, 70 percent of the citizens are happy. It is also emphasized that by owning the fiber optic infrastructure, the municipality of Munderfing can offer the possibility of offering an ultra-fast fiber optic network on favorable terms.
The expansion was supported by funding from the responsible ministry and the state of Upper Austria.
Source: Nachrichten
