Bonn/Munich, 02.08.2024 – The Bundesverband Breitbandkommunikation e.V. (BREKO) today awarded Stadtwerke München its “Echte Glasfaser” quality seal. In addition, the City of Munich’s broadband commissioner, Eva Puckner, was honored for her services to fiber optic expansion.

As part of the “Fiber for Future” initiative, the BREKO awards municipalities, network operators and municipal representatives who provide decisive impetus for fiber optic expansion in their region. The “Real Fiber” seal is awarded to network operators who prioritize the construction of real fiber optic connections, i.e. fiber to the building (FTTB) and homes (FTTH), and give preference to this technology over others.

Stadtwerke München has more than fulfilled this criterion: Since 2009, the company has been expanding the local fiber optic network in the state capital as FTTB and FTTH together with the provider M-net – and now supplies around two thirds of Munich with future-proof fiber optics. Over the next three years, Stadtwerke München plans to build 100,000 more genuine fiber optic connections.

This is made possible by close cooperation with the City of Munich. Munich’s broadband commissioner Eva Puckner has been particularly committed to driving forward the coordination of politics, administration and network operators in recent years. This is why BREKO honors her for the particularly good cooperation with Stadtwerke München.

Dr. Stephan Albers, Managing Director of BREKO: “As a leading technology and business metropolis, Munich must also be at the forefront of digital infrastructure. Thanks to the strong teamwork of Stadtwerke München and the City of Munich, a large part of the state capital now benefits from real fiber optic connections to buildings and homes. This shows once again that in order to exploit the full potential of fiber optic technology, all players involved must pull together.”

Alfred Rauscher, Vice President of BREKO and Managing Director of R-KOM: “Stadtwerke München pushed ahead with the expansion of fiber optics earlier than many others and thus took on a pioneering role nationwide. This makes the city of Munich a prime example of the considerable contribution that municipal utilities are making to advancing the nationwide expansion of fiber optics.”

Dr. Karin Thelen, SWM Managing Director Regional Energy Transition: “The seal confirms the high coverage of the Munich network with fiber optics – 70 percent of all homes. Customers in a good 650,000 households and companies can already use a future-proof Internet connection today. Thanks to real fiber optics, this is powerful, stable and, last but not least, sustainable. In contrast to copper-based technologies, it significantly reduces electricity consumption and, as a result, CO2 emissions, which is particularly noticeable in data-intensive applications such as streaming.”

Eva Puckner, Broadband Officer for the City of Munich: “I have been working on the digital transformation of Munich’s economy since 2017. This includes promoting the mobile and fiber optic network in the city. Here I have the role of coordinator on behalf of the state capital. My motivation is to enable a stable infrastructure as a basis for innovation and future-oriented business.”

More information on the “Fiber for Future” initiative and the application for the “Real Fiber” seal: https://www.brekoverband.de/breko/fiber-for-future/