It's been almost a year since the masses of water in North Rhine-Westphalia and Rhineland-Palatinate almost milled through the Ahr Valley, leaving behind a great deal of human suffering, but also massive infrastructural damage, for example to telecommunications . Deutsche Telekom explains how the network is doing a year later.
Telekom's interim conclusion is that over 100,000 households were reconnected to the fixed network and more than 300 mobile radio stations were brought back to the network within the last year. Some of the damaged infrastructure could be repaired, but in the case of completely destroyed streets, bridges and houses, the network operator had to build completely new technology. Telekom announced early on that it no longer wanted to use copper for the new connections, but instead wanted to use FTTH right away. Around 40,000 households have now been connected with fiber optics.
At Telekom, the PTI, the “Production Technical Infrastructure” is responsible for the reconstruction, specifically the PTI 24 Aachen, which takes care of the reconstruction in Gemünd at the Eifel National Park and gives an insight into the work through the manager Gregor Vincentz. There were three phases of reconstruction, with one currently in the final phase. First there was an inventory, then it was a matter of eliminating the fault so that many customers can quickly get back on the grid. The current last phase revolves around the reconnection of the houses in the completely destroyed areas.
First electricity, gas and water, then fiber optics
The fact that the network operator cannot always go at his own pace is shown by the challenges in supplying the affected areas with electricity, gas and water. Vincentz explains that where the entire infrastructure has been destroyed, you have to work together with the municipalities and other providers to ensure that not everyone builds according to their own plan and that individual areas or roads have to be torn open several times. A civil engineering company must first dig the excavation pit for all lines, in which gas, water and electricity are laid at a deeper depth than the telecommunications. “What helps is the fact that in many municipalities we have a common civil engineering contractor for all utilities – so we don't have to coordinate different companies.”
Convince people of FTTH
Although an FTTH connection may sound tempting under normal circumstances, Telekom also has to contend with human challenges on site. Because where you had to fight for the bare essentials, to rebuild the house or get electricity and gas, fast internet is not always the top priority, they say. In discussions, employees try to explain how important and useful an FTTH connection is in the long term. “Getting the understanding of the residents that we have to drill into the house from scratch to put the fiber optics in – that's a Herculean task, because many understandably have other things in mind at the moment.”
New technology in safe areas
In Ahrbrück, 50 km southeast of Gemünd, a lot of new construction is going on after the flood left massive damage to the infrastructure. The former operating sites for Ahrbrück and Altenahr will be merged into one, which will be rebuilt 600 meters away in a flood-free area, which is possible thanks to more compact network technology. Until completion, the supply to customers will be controlled via a container in Ahrbrück, the technology of which is prepared for FTTH. “If we had just waited for the new site, nothing would have happened here and the customers would have waited even longer,” said Michael Guthart, Technical Project Manager.
In the future, interim solutions that are still visible, such as cables laid above ground, are to gradually disappear from the cityscape, while the underground fiber optic expansion is in full swing. Affected customers can obtain information and register for a new fiber optic connection on a website. When rebuilding, interested parties should make sure that they provide empty pipes where the fiber optic connection is to come into the house, for example in the garden, so that Telekom does not have to dig it up again. Conduit is provided by the Telekom employees on site, but any other commercially available conduit can also be used, but smooth conduit is best.