Category: Corona

It was the first project of its kind in germany and new territory for the town of pottenstein and deutsche telekom: the "pottenstein burger network" for the broadband expansion of fast internet to every house in the 33 pottenstein villages. In the main town of pottenstein, or more precisely in the lower town, mayor stefan fruhbeiber (CWU/UWV) and his deputy roland lang (BU), together with representatives of the construction company and telekom, gave the go-ahead for the start of operations. As of now, the lower town and the suburb of puttlach are bookable with fast internet. The special thing about the burger network is that the city, and not the network operator, acts as the developer, who then also owns the fiber optic lines. After a call for tenders to find an operator, telekom made the best offer. The telecommunications company is now leasing the city’s lines for an initial period of twelve years. Total costs amount to around 11.5 million euros. Originally, the cost was expected to be around ten million euros. The main reason for the increase in costs is "the fact that pottenstein is stinking rich", says fruhbeiber – in the truest sense of the word: because some excavation work in the rocky subsoil required more time and therefore also led to more costs.

Unique demand

However, there is a unique requirement. Thanks to the federal broadband expansion program, pottenstein will receive 50 percent of the total costs as a subsidy. The so-called "farm program the free state of bavaria originally envisaged an additional lump-sum payment of 890.000 euros before. But fruhbeiber was able to negotiate cleverly. The state quadrupled its original demand, which is why the city itself now only has to raise around 2.2 million euros from its own funds. This corresponds to a subsidy rate of about 80 percent of the total costs. Negotiations on a higher demand took place at the ministry of home affairs in nurnberg. "I had almost taken up my second residence in nurnberg", smiles fruhbeiber. The investment will have paid for itself in around 40 years through the leasing of the pipeline network.

In view of the corona crisis, the federal government sees a need for billions of protective masks. In order to become less dependent on china, the establishment and expansion of the production of medical protective equipment in germany should be pushed forward.

After a meeting of the corona cabinet in berlin on thursday, economics minister peter altmaier (CDU) said that germany would need several billion euros within months for all types of masks, from simple everyday masks to special masks for medical personnel. The demand will increase permanently and will remain high for a long time. Masks and other protective equipment are currently in short supply worldwide, prices have risen immensely.

Austria severely restricts public life because of an imminent overload of intensive care in the corona crisis.

Gastronomy and almost the entire range of cultural and leisure activities will be closed, and throughout the country people will only be allowed to leave their homes between 8 p.M. And 6 a.M. For certain purposes – but also for recreation outdoors. "From tuesday 3. November 0 o’clock, by the end of november there will be a second lockdown in austria," said chancellor sebastian kurz (ovp) on saturday in vienna.