Vodafone Deutschland agrees on digital investment

Vodafone Deutschland has entered into a strategic digital partnership with the  government of Lower Saxony to develop digital services in the region.

Vodafone said it would contribute to meeting the goal of delivering Gigabit connectivity to all households in Lower Saxony by 2025 by investing in fibre networks and deploying DOCSIS 3.1 technology over its HFC cable network. Vodafone’s cable network in Lower Saxony currently reaches 2.5 million homes, and the company says the network will be Gigabit-capable in its entirety by 2021.

the company has also committed to investing a further €180 million in the region, connecting private homes, schools and businesses to its fixed network as well as improving mobile connectivity.

As part of its commitment under the digital partnership, Vodafone has said it will rebuild or expand its LTE network, contributing around 700 mobile phone sites by 2020.

Separately, in western Germany, Liberty Global-owned Unitymedia has agreed a local cooperation deal with PŸUR/Tele Columbus to connect residents of the municpality of Verl in North-Rhine Westphalia to its fibre network. Residents of the town, which have previously been supplied TV services via a local network fed by satellite from  PŸUR. These customers will now be connected to Unitymedia’s network, which is being upgraded to 862MHz with an active return channel. Unitymedia will provide broadband and phone services while TV services will continue to be supplied by  PŸUR.