Deutsche Telekom is providing infrastructure for the Bonn Climate Change Conference.
A green meadow – that's all there was to see during the first site visit in March 2017. But Matthias Litzke, Project Manager at Telekom Deutschland, already had a vision of the two conference centers for the climate change conference. An area of around 48,000 m² for up to 25,000 participants, fiber optic wiring – including interior wiring – and additional cellular antennas. As the weeks passed, the possibilities turned into plans. This isn't the first major project that Matthias Litzke and his team have tackled. Deutsche Telekom was also responsible for the infrastructure for the G7/G8 summit two years ago, the recent G20 summit and the anniversary of German unification. Once the requirements are clear, Litzke and his team conduct a technical assessment, which serves as the foundation for the bid. Once the contracts are signed, they start work on the implementation.
More than 50 companies are involved in the setup and execution of the climate change summit, requiring a huge amount of coordination and precise planning. As the provider of the complete infrastructure, Deutsche Telekom plays a special role, because the cables have to be laid underground before the tents can be built on top of them and, in turn, the interior areas cannot be wired until the tents have been put up.
His motto: There's no such word as "can't". "A major project like this can't simply be planned from A to Z. There are always surprises somewhere and then you have to improvise," explains Litzke. "One time our cables wound up on the wrong end of the site, because the plans had changed overnight, but you get used to it. At the end of the day, the only important thing is achieving our goals."
A variety of permits have to be obtained. The Rheinaue location is a flood zone, so a flood concept is needed. Permits from the parks department are also needed, because the cables have to be laid through meadows and flower beds, and special care is required to not damage any tree roots. In addition, the project team also has to take traffic regulations into account. 1,000 e-mails aren't a rare occurrence for Litzke; his entire team works under enormous time pressure. "Everyone here masters a high workload," says Litzke with pride, "otherwise none of this would be possible."
More than 50 employees from all parts of the company are working on realizing this major project. They are taking care of the construction, inspection and operation of the 50 km fiber-optic network and the eight additional cellular antennas. Seven of these provide small cell coverage, located in the two-story conference tents, to provide optimal cellular reception for the many participants who will be phoning and sending data at the same time, in close quarters. And of course sustainability is a major factor in all these efforts. While the servers and computers will be removed at the end of the conference, the newly laid underground network will remain, where it can be used again for major events at any time.
"Our name stands for quality, which we plan to deliver," asserts Litzke, before glancing at his watch. Appointments are waiting and the next e-mails have already arrived. The project manager sees this as positive stress: "You always have to keep calm, and besides, the unpredictability is the most exciting thing about this job, after all."
The situation for the team doesn't ease until the final inspection and acceptance, once everything is working. And even then, they have to ensure that operations go off without a hitch during the conference. There is no time for Matthias Litzke to relax, however, because the next major project is already waiting…