Saxony: Digital offensive in Saxony: 436.5 million euros planned

Dresden (dpa / sn) - Saxony wants to go on the digital offensive with considerable financial effort.

Saxony: Digital offensive in Saxony: 436.5 million euros planned

Dresden (dpa / sn) - Saxony wants to go on the digital offensive with considerable financial effort. A corresponding directive was passed by the cabinet on Tuesday. "We are currently calculating an amount of around 436.5 million euros for this funding program to co-finance the development of over 120,000 households," said Economics Minister Martin Dulig (SPD) after the cabinet meeting.

With the new guideline, all connections are eligible that have a reliable download speed of less than 100 Mbit per second (grey spots). In the previous funding program (white spots), the so-called pick-up threshold was 30 Mbit per second. The current program is limited to 2022. Applications can be submitted until the end of the year. The federal government has not yet decided the conditions under which the funding will run from 2023.

Dulig spoke of a good day, especially for rural areas. "Because this is precisely where fiber optic expansion still has the most catching up to do." So far, Saxony has already provided around 800 million euros for co-financing from federal funds. With the funding already provided, around 330,000 connections would be created in regions that were previously underserved. However, the minister did not want to specify when all these connections will be ready. The current political development is delaying construction projects, he said.