Schwarzwald-Baar district awarded: Four municipalities as gigabit municipalities!

Schwarzwald-Baar district awarded: Four municipalities as gigabit municipalities!

Recently, four municipalities in the Schwarzwald-Baar district were ceremonially recognized as “Gigabitkommune@BW”. Brigachtal, Güterbach, Blumberg and Herrischried have managed to achieve outstanding network coverage of gigabit-capable internet connections. The award was presented by Digitization Minister Thomas Strobl in Stuttgart and recognizes the municipalities' efforts to create a modern broadband infrastructure, which is essential for citizens' digital participation. A total of 55 municipalities in Baden-Württemberg received this award, which means that they can provide at least 97.9 percent of their households with an Internet speed of 1,000 megabits per second, as baden-wuerttemberg.de reports.

Fiber optic expansion has gained momentum in recent years, and not without reason. “Digital participation is more important than ever today,” says Felix Stiegeler, managing director of the regional internet provider Stiegeler, which operates the municipal fiber optic networks in the award-winning communities. Especially in rural areas, high-performance data connections are crucial for education, home office and telemedicine. The progress in Blumberg is particularly impressive: the groundbreaking ceremony for the last project in Rieböhringen took place on May 20, 2025, which means that Blumberg will soon be able to boast 100 percent fiber optic coverage. Currently, 92.5 percent of the residential units are already connected to the fiber optic network, with full coverage planned by the end of 2025 [schwarzwaelder-bote.de].

The path to gigabit communication

What did it take to reach this high standard? The communities in the Schwarzwald-Baar district have invested in the expansion of broadband networks for years, supported by public funding. The data from the federal broadband atlas (as of December 2024) formed the basis for the selection. The increase in gigabit availability in Baden-Württemberg from 1.4 percent in 2016 to around 76 percent currently clearly shows how important this development is. The contribution of the telecommunications companies to the creation of this infrastructure, which should not be underestimated, is indispensable, as also described in the regions that are aiming for a gigabit coverage of at least 90 percent, as also emphasized by kommunen.nrw.

Overall, there is still a lot to do in Germany. Over 15 million households in urban areas and eight million in semi-urban areas currently lack access to fiber. Particularly in rural regions, 2.9 million households are still without FTTB/H supply. But commercial expansion accounts for two thirds of the total volume, followed by offers in the subsidized area, which shows that big steps are being taken to provide every household with a fast Internet connection.

The award given to the Gigabit municipalities in the Schwarzwald-Baar district is not only a sign of the progress of digitalization in the region, but also an invitation to other municipalities to follow this example. The road to full fiber coverage may be long and challenging, but as successful communities show, investing in the digital future is worth it.