- Fiber-optic collaboration: sharing of fiber-optic infrastructure planned for the first time
- Expansion of options available to customers
- Pilot project in Lüdinghausen (NRW)
Good news for households and businesses in the North Rhine-Westphalian city of Lüdinghausen: Deutsche Telekom and Deutsche Glasfaser will jointly use a single fiber-optic network. For a pilot project in Lüdinghausen (North Rhine-Westphalia, Coesfeld district), Deutsche Glasfaser will open up its existing network for use by Deutsche Telekom. A corresponding letter of intent was signed by Dirk Wössner, Member of the Board of Management, Deutsche Telekom AG, and Managing Director, Telekom Deutschland GmbH, and Uwe Nickl, CEO of Deutsche Glasfaser.
First pilot project
The collaboration expands offerings for all end customers. With this cooperation, Deutsche Telekom has the possibility to use optical fiber between the main fiber-optic distribution frame and the customer's building, thus offering its complete product portfolio. These offers are also valid for households in Deutsche Glasfaser's rollout area in Lüdinghausen that do not have an FTTH (fiber to the home) line yet. Deutsche Glasfaser will retrofit these home connections accordingly.
Deutsche Glasfaser has laid more than 9,000 fiber-optic lines in the City of Lüdinghausen and its individual city districts, which means many households are already surfing at the speed of light. Deutsche Telekom is now entering this market with additional offerings.
"Today's agreement is an important step in accelerating the FTTH fiber-optic expansion," said Uwe Nickl, CEO of Deutsche Glasfaser. "Two of Germany's most important fiber-optic providers are now collaborating for the benefit of end customers, who will now enjoy much broader offerings in the same infrastructure. We at Deutsche Glasfaser will enable nearly one million customer lines by the end of this year. Open networks are part of our standard, because they enable competition and selection for end customers without having to lay redundant fiber-optic networks."
Customers benefit
"I am looking forward to working together in this pilot project," said Dirk Wössner, Managing Director of Telekom Deutschland. "Just like we give others access to our own networks, we are also interested in using the infrastructure of other companies that are investing in optical fiber. We're already working together successfully with several municipal network operators, for example. We have to work together to roll out optical fiber throughout Germany. We now plan to work closely with Deutsche Glasfaser specifically to harmonize the different worlds of technology and processes. Above all, we're interested in gathering practical experience, to bring open access to life with clear, non-discriminatory standards."
Lüdinghausen is the first pilot project by both providers to pursue open access – gaining access to fiber-optic networks through the main fiber-optic distribution frame. The pilot area in Lüdinghausen includes both private households and business parks. Deutsche Telekom intends to offer fiber-optic-based products to its customers starting this year (2020).
Based on their experiences in Lüdinghausen, the two companies plan to evaluate further collaboration projects in other municipalities.
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