German regional utility and telecoms company EWE has revealed plans to invest more than EUR1 billion (USD1.1 billion) in the deployment of fibre-optic networks in the north-west of the country over the next ten years.
The firm, which is based in Oldenburg in Lower Saxony, is aiming to connect as many buildings as possible within its operating footprint to direct fibre-optic infrastructure to offer high speed internet access. EWE’s direct fibre-optic network already covers almost 90,000 households in towns such as Oldenburg, Westerstede, Cuxhaven, Lohne, Bremervoerde and Bad Bederkesa.
‘We have created a very good foundation with our existing broadband expansion, but the demand of the customers is growing steadily,’ commented EWE’s CEO Matthias Brueckmann, adding: ‘Sustainable broadband expansion can therefore only consist of complete fibre-optic connections. Building on our existing expansion, we will now be constructing a future-proof broadband infrastructure in the north-west with a completely separate network, thus providing the region with a very great competitive advantage.’