EWE and Deutsche Telekom collaborate on €2bn fiber-optic broadband expansion

EWE and Deutsche Telekom are cooperating on a €2bn project to improve fiber-optic broadband provision in Germany.

The pair plan to connect one million households in the country's north-west using FTTB as it looks to catch up with the rest of Europe in terms of the speed and reliability of its broadband.

EWE, one of its leading utility companies, is joining forces with Deutsche Telekom for the first time, with work on the infrastructure needed set to begin in the middle of 2018. A ten-year time-frame has been given for the completion of the project.

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"By working with a strong partner, we will be able to bring state-of-the-art fast Internet access to even more people in our region," said Michael Heidkamp, EWE Director of Sales and Marketing.

"This joint venture will enable us to make faster progress toward a complete-coverage fiber-optic network, and thereby to set new standards in state-of-the-art broadband infrastructure."

According to research by the Bertelsmann Foundation, only 7% of Germany’s 40mn households has access to a fast glass-fiber connection.