Home arrow Apr - June 2009 arrow Vodafone Tests Mobile Internet in Rural Areas of Baden-Württemberg
Vodafone Tests Mobile Internet in Rural Areas of Baden-Württemberg
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The State Broadcasting Authority for Communication in Baden-Württemberg (LFK) and the UK-based mobile group Vodafone have teamed up to implement the first field tests involving the digital dividend radio spectrum and the use of radio frequencies for broadband internet. Vodafone will provide free wireless broadband access with peak download speeds of up to 7.2 Mbps and up to 1.4 Mbps for uplink to around 100 test households in the region, aiming to showcase how to improve the prospects of rural regions for broadband internet services using the digital dividend radio spectrum The project will also reveal the potential for radio technology in south-western Germany's hilly landscapes and whether it will have any impact on digital terrestrial and cable TV reception.

The municipalities of Bopfingen and Unterschneidheim in the Ostalb District will be the first places in Baden-Württemberg to use broadband internet via radio frequencies. An agreement has been concluded by Vodafone Germany and the State Broadcasting Authority for Communication in Baden-Württemberg (LFK) in this respect and field testing will commence in May 2009.

In this model project, Vodafone will conduct one year of tests to establish how it might be possible to provide mobile internet to a rural region without DSL or cable internet under everyday conditions. In the first step, around 100 test households in Bopfingen (Baldern, Kerkingen, Itzlingen) and the neighbouring municipality of Unterschneidheim (Zöbingen, Walxheim) will be equipped with free hardware for mobile internet access (up to 7.2 MBit/s for downlink and up to 1.4 MBit/s for uplink). The citizens and businesses which will receive the hardware have been selected in conjunction with the municipal authorities. They won't be required to pay any usage charges during the field test.

"High-speed internet for all isn't a vision, it's within everyone's reach. In a technology-oriented nation like Germany, we can't afford to have any gaps in the network. Broadband access is decisive to the life and location quality of entire regions. We have joined forces with the LFK Baden-Württemberg to show people that some of the unused radio spectrum could be used to provide broadband services in rural regions," said Hartmut Kremling, CTO Vodafone Germany and Arcor.

"This is new territory for us. First of all, we want to give people who live in rural regions without adequate broadband coverage access to high-speed broadband internet. The Vodafone field test will show that this concept works very convincingly in practice," said LFK President Thomas Langheinrich.
"Rural areas without access to the data highway have considerable location disadvantages. Vodafone and the LFK's joint field testing project is an important initiative that will demonstrate how we can improve the working conditions at local businesses and enhance the quality of life of citizens in our region. We're a global village now, and this global village shouldn't be dominated by the cities alone," said Bopfingen's mayor, Dr. Gunter Bühler. There are also great expectations in Unterschneidheim: "Our citizens are following the technical implementation of this project with great interest," said Unterscheidheim's mayor, Nikolaus Ebert.

The State Broadcasting Authority for Communication issued a call for proposals on model projects involving the use of the digital dividend radio spectrum in January. The deadline for submissions is 30 June 2009. The field test is supported by the Baden-Württemberg State Government and it has the approval of the Federal Network Agency. This model project will deliver information about the potential which exists for radio technology in south-western Germany's hilly landscapes, how citizens actually use it and whether it will have any impact on DVB-T and DVB-C TV reception.