The broadband “revolution” with DSL in Germany didn’t seem to reach the towns and municipalities nestled in the Alps in southern Germany. This is one of the rare spots in Germany that isn’t completely covered by T-DSL, Vodafone, Alice and other broadband providers.
This has spurred the townships to take matters into their own hands and buildout broadband networks to their citizens. Since they are, for the most part, starting from scratch they are able to do a technology leapfrog and put real FTTx networks in place. This move will future proof them from newer technologies as, so far, no one has come up with a “faster than light” mode of transmission.
These towns do not have the expertise to build these networks on their own so they’ve been shopping the idea around to various network vendors and Systems Integrators. They aren’t getting the support they expect mainly because the towns’ network plans aren’t large enough for the Vendors and SI’s to bother with.
Right now is Election season in Germany and that means that this will be a hot issue on the ballot. I feel sorry for the guys that promised “Broadband to every Citizen” during the last elections if they haven’t figured out a way to get the network installed.
