Local councilor Ursula Gresser (FDP) calls the current broadband supply method “limited transparency” and “an equation with many unknowns”.
Gresser is probably not alone in the Sauerlach municipal council with this assessment.
The topic is not new: a year ago the local council decided to bring the broadband supply in the nine districts (Arget, Lochhofen, Grafing, Am Brand, Gumpertsham, Altkirchen, Klein Eichenhausen, Großeichenhausen and Gumpertshausen) up to date. For this purpose, the company IK-T Manstorfer und Hecht was commissioned to “provide support for finding funding procedures for fiber optic construction in the districts and to prepare a tender for the expansion”, as stated in the draft resolution of the latest municipal council meeting. In plain language: The Regensburg company should check how high the demand is and help to find a suitable telecommunications provider to operate the required broadband network. "Market research process" is the name of a procedurewhich in the Sauerlach case did not unearth anything edifying: Because the need for fast internet is far higher than previously believed, an immediate tender is therefore not possible at first - at least not ideal when it comes to the financing of the network.
2.5 million euros from their own coffers
Sauerlach would pay a good 2.5 million euros for the broadband expansion from its own box.
The state of Bavaria is providing a maximum of six million euros in funding.
And the more there is a need for expansion, the higher the subsidy.
But it also means: If the municipality were to use the previously applicable but outdated data for a tender to a telecommunications provider, the bottom line could be that its own financial contribution would be higher because less funding is being transferred from the Free State.
One absolutely wants to avoid such a thing, which is why Mayor Barbara Bogner (UBV) advocates a new market research process - which raises further questions. About how much this costs. Probably some 1000 euros, it was said at the municipal council meeting - possibly. Because at the IK-T one does not want to comment specifically on this, even when specifically asked. The engineer Christian Hochhuber entrusted with the project merely points out that his hourly rates are used for billing. He doesn't want to say how high they are. Ursula Gresser is annoyed that his remarks at the municipal council meeting remained "not very specific and nebulous". "Either he had no idea himself or he didn't want to say anything."
How long the market research process will take is still unclear.
A written request to the Sauerlach building authority management has so far not been answered.
More than 700 weak connections
And the costs per connection?
Between 7,000 and 17,000 euros, these numbers were in the virtual space - roughly.
That probably also depends on what the future telecommunications provider is willing to pay, as local councilor Axel Horn (Bündnis 90 / Die Grünen) suspects.
The only thing that is certain is that over 700 connections, according to the latest findings from IK-T Manstorfer, are currently bobbing around at less than 30 megabits per second.
Before that, only 200 weak connections were assumed, says IK-T-Mann Hochhuber.
A reason for the enormous deviation could not be given.
Assumptions, no clear figures and vague statements - "We may be paying for a network here that we don't even know who owns it in the end, what it costs and when we will have it", Ursula Gresser wonders. And recommends: “We may need a second appraiser.” VOLKER CAMEHN
