With a symbolic ground-breaking ceremony on 3 April 2025 in the Justus-von-Liebig-Straße industrial estate at the headquarters of Italia Import Perrone GmbH, the City of Bonn officially heralded the start of construction as part of the "Special call for industrial estates, industrial parks, schools and hospitals" funding program (in short: "special call"). This funding measure ensures that the high-speed fiber optic network is now being expanded in 13 commercial areas, 23 educational institutions and 13 hospitals in Bonn.
Providing the commercial areas with fast fiber optic connections is a particular concern for Mayor Katja Dörner. "With this ground-breaking ceremony, the city is continuing the subsidized fiber optic expansion in the urban area. With the first funding procedure, the so-called "Weiße-Flecken-Programm", it was mainly primary and special schools that were connected during the corona pandemic. With the federal and state-funded expansion that is now starting, we are focusing on the infrastructural supply of Bonn companies in the commercial areas as well as secondary schools, vocational schools and hospitals. With this fiber optic expansion, we are investing in the digital future of our companies, schools and hospitals. In doing so, we are securing and creating sustainable jobs in Bonn's economy, data-based medicine in the healthcare sector and digital learning in education."
Around 8.7 million euros from the federal and state governments
With the funding program "Special call for commercial areas, schools and hospitals", municipalities and districts are supported in the expansion of the network infrastructure by the Federal Ministry of Transport and Digital Infrastructure (BMDV) and the NRW Ministry of Economic Affairs, Industry, Climate Protection and Energy.
In this special call, the threshold for the subsidized expansion is not 30 Mbit/s per connection, but the number of Internet-connected workplaces and equipment in commercial areas, the number of beds and wards in hospitals and the number of pupils and classes in schools are taken into account. For this reason, the connection of buildings that are already connected with more than 30 Mbit/s is also funded.
After receiving the final grant notifications with a funding amount of around 8.7 million euros from the federal and state governments, the city commissioned Telekom Deutschland GmbH to expand the eligible properties and areas of the city following a bidding process. The federal and state governments will each cover 50 percent of the expansion costs; the city of Bonn does not have to contribute any of its own funds to these subsidized projects.
The City of Bonn's economic development officer, Victoria Appelbe, is delighted about the start of the expansion work. "This is an important step for Bonn towards nationwide fiber optic coverage and, not least, ensures the future viability of the business and science location," says Appelbe.
278 kilometers of fiber optic cable are laid
As part of the funding measure, around 278 kilometers of fibre optic cable will be laid and 45 network distributors installed. The fiber optic cable will be routed directly into the building and offer all schools, hospitals and businesses located in the subsidized areas a bandwidth of one gigabit per second.
"It is a matter close to our hearts to invest in our home city. We are digitizing Bonn. Over 43,000 households are already connected with fiber optics. We want to triple our connections in just a few years. The city of Bonn is a very constructive and reliable partner. We want to continue this very good cooperation in the future," emphasizes Dr. Robert Hauber, Managing Director Finance at Telekom Deutschland GmbH.
"For us as an international company, high-performance and reliable data lines are very important. I am delighted that the expansion is now underway here in the business park. This will enable the companies based here to position themselves even better for the future," says Toni Perrone, Managing Director of Italia Import Perrone GmbH, on whose premises the ground-breaking ceremony took place.
Trade, education, health: where expansion is taking place
The following areas and facilities are now expected to be developed by January 2026:
Industrial estates: An der Ziegelei, Beuel-Ost, Dottendorf, Duisdorf, Geislar, Godesberg-Nord, Hohe Straße, Justus-von-Liebig-Straße, Pennenfeld, Weststadt, Am Mühlenbach, Bonn-West and Buschdorf. Around 2,500 companies can thus benefit from the fast fiber optic connection.
Educational institutions: Akademie für Pflege, Gesundheit und Soziales der DRK-Schwesternschaft Bonn, Amos-Comenius-Gymnasium, Berufskolleg des Rhein-Sieg-Kreises Bonn-Duisdorf, Bonn International School, CJD Christophorusschule Frechen, Erzbischöfliche Liebfrauenschule Bonn, Fachseminar für Altenpflege Verein zur Förderung der Altenpflege, Godesberger Privatschule - Bonner Lehrinstitut seit 1972, HEBO Privatschule, Independent Bonn International School, Johannes-Schule Freie Waldorfschule, Karl-Borromäus-Schule für Gesundheitsberufe, Krankenpflegeschule der LVR-Klinik Bonn Landschaftsverband Rheinland Köln, Christophorusschule, Freie Waldorfschule Bonn, St.-Adelheid-Gymnasium, Schule für Gesundheits- und Pflegeberufe am Gemeinschaftskrankenhaus Bonn, X - PHYSIO Schule für Physiotherapie, SRH Fachschulen GmbH Fachschule für Logopädie, LVR-Frida-Kahlo-Schule, Collegium Josephinum - Realschule, Collegium Josephinum Gymnasium, Gymnasium Tannenbusch, Außenstelle Chemnitzer Weg.
Hospitals: Gemeinschaftskrankenhaus Bonn - Haus St. Petrus, Dardenne Eye Clinic, Kaiser-Karl-Klinik GmbH, St. Josef-Hospital, Moser Klinik Bonn, Johanniter-Kliniken Bonn, Gemeinschaftskrankenhaus Bonn Haus St. Elisabeth, GFO-Kliniken Bonn, Jungbrunnen-Klinik GmbH, Gezeiten Haus GmbH, MediClin Robert-Janker-Klinik, Malteser-Krankenhaus and Johanniter-Kliniken Bonn.
Further information can be found at www.bonn.de/glasfaser. (opens in a new tab) The contact person for all questions relating to the subsidized and self-economic expansion is the Digital Infrastructure Coordinator Vincent Weng at the Office for Economic Development, e-mail vincent.wengbonnde Tel. 0228 - 77 40 48.