In the first phase of expansion in the area code 02222 on Bornheim's municipal territory, Telekom has already laid around 300 kilometres of fibre optic network in the streets and right into the living rooms of around 1140 households (General-Anzeiger reported).

The work on the public network has been completed, said expansion manager Thomas Benders. Only a few hundred house connections are still missing. These are to be installed by the end of the year, he promised. Then all customers will be able to surf at 1000 megabits per second.

As announced, the area codes 02227 and 02236 will follow. According to Bender's Sechtem, Walberberg and Widdig will be the first ones, followed by the other places. The first stage should be completed in 2021, the second at the end of 2022."Personally, I think this is a great opportunity for tenants and homeowners to get a future-proof network into the house," emphasised Mayor Wolfgang Henseler, who lives in the 02227 area. The advantage: when the contract is signed, Telekom will install the house connection for customers free of charge. Expansion phase 1 had been delayed due to surprises in the streets. "We were not able to implement the trenching procedure as desired," said Benders. A machine lifts a narrow trench from the street into which the cable is inserted.

But because the Bornheim soil was often too gravelly, the trenches collapsed immediately. Telekom had learned from this and in the second phase, he said, was relying on alternative methods such as the flush drilling method, which works without trenches.

Incidentally, Telekom will also lay a house connection in the 02222 area code afterwards. But then it will cost the regular 780 Euro, said Pischke.

More information: Telekom Infomobil, Kardorf village square, Auf dem Knickert or www.telekom.de/jetzt-glasfaser

(Original text: Katharina Weber, Translation: Mareike Graepel)