Fibre optic connections for industrial zones in Düsseldorf

City of Düsseldorf teams up with Vodafone and Deutsche Glasfaser Business

Collaboration for a gigabit-speed fibre optic network: The State Capital Düsseldorf, Vodafone and Deutsche Glasfaser Business have signed cooperation agreements to drive forward the development of the fibre optic network in Düsseldorf and consequently the digitalisation of the business location Düsseldorf.

The first fibre-optic cables should be laid this year in 19 development zones. From 2018, several thousand companies and business owners could have a new fibre-optic connection and so benefit from upload/download speeds of up to 1 gigabit/s (1,000 Mb/s).

The cooperation agreements go back to an initiative of the mayor Thomas Geisel. In November 2016, the mayor had invited all representatives of the major telecommunications companies and network operators to the Town Hall to drive forward the rapid and extensive expansion of the fibre-optic infrastructure in Düsseldorf. Business parks and industrial zones in particular were to receive fibre optic connections because the local economy needs a high-performance infrastructure for future viability in the face of digitalisation, innovation processes and modern communications. Discussions were carried out with several providers and further collaborations are already planned.

Düsseldorf's mayor Thomas Geisel said: "For businesses, broadband Internet with high transmission speeds is just as important as electricity and water. This applies to both high-tech companies and skilled crafts businesses. We know from our daily work at the Office of Economic Development that when new companies are looking for a location, their decisions are often made on the availability of high-speed fibre-optic connections. So it is vital for the sustainability of our industrial estates to offer such an infrastructure."

"Thanks to our plans to extend fibre-optics, Düsseldorf's industrial areas are now on the digital fast track. This helps local small and medium-sized companies to develop their business successfully using the fastest network and avoids them being stranded on a digital sandbar," said Vodafone Germany's CEO Dr. Hannes Ametsreiter.

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