Telecom operator Deutsche Telekom is planning to lay 60,000 kilometers of optical fiber in 2018 – aiming to offer more FTTH connections in Germany.

Deutsche Telekom’s engineers have already laid out 40,000 kilometers of optical fiber in 2017 as part of its FTTH strategy. At present, the Deutsche Telekom fiber-optic network covers over 455,000 kilometers in total, making it the largest in Europe.

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Deutsche Telekom estimates that it will need to spend between 50,000 and 150,000 euros towards Capex for installing one kilometer of fiber-optic cable. Deutsche Telekom’s top managers especially procurement team are busy building the FTTH network to enhance ARPU from broadband.

Each year, Deutsche Telekom invests around five billion euros in Germany to enhance coverage and quality of services to improve customer experience.

Deutsche Telekom’s engineers will be using trenching for the expansion of its broadband network with investment in optical fiber. Engineers will gain as trenching removes the need to dig open trenches to install fiber-optic cables. Instead, engineers can mill narrow grooves into the road/sidewalk surface.

Deutsche Telekom will be in a better position to control both Opex and Capex because trenching is around eight times faster and up to 30 percent cheaper than the conventional method.

Deutsche Telekom will be offering Internet connections with up to 1 Gbit/s speed in these areas.

Deutsche Telekom’s marketing team is hopeful that the 1GB speed Internet will reach 3,000 households in Bad Staffelstein, 3,500 in Bruchsal, 6,300 in Hildburghausen and 1,600 in Markkleeberg. Deutsche Telekom is planning to complete all the expansion projects by the start of 2019 at the latest.

Deutsche Telekom said it targets to sign up with around 30 percent of households in these areas with its fiber-optic plan. Customers, who sign up during the pre-marketing phase, need not pay a home connection fee.

Deutsche Telekom’s engineers will start to expand fiber-optic connections into homes in Bruchsal, Markkleeberg and Hildburghausen if pre-marketing is successful.