On Monday, 25 January the federal minister Alexander Dobrindt handed over the approvals for grants to municipal representatives. In the first step undersupplied regions will receive support for planning and compilation of application documents for project funding from the federal government.
In the second step municipalities and districts can apply for up to 15 million Euros for the implementation of their broadband plans. The federal funding project for broadband deployment has an overall budget of 2.7 billion Euros. It aims at covering all white spots in broadband supply in Germany. The funding rate is 50 to 70 percent of all eligible costs. A combination with other funding programmes, e. g. from the federal states, is possible. Thereby another 40 percent of funding can be accrued. The co-payment of the municipality is then reduced to 10 percent.
More information is available here. Applications can be submitted under www.breitbandausschreibungen.de.