Tele Columbus AG has commissioned two additional optical fibre rings to connect key network locations across four German federal states and a distance of approximately 1,400 kilometres. The new rings will provide some 48,000 households, the majority of which in Brandenburg, Saxony and Thuringia, an easily scalable connection to the Tele Columbus Group internet backbone. The system lowers the number of decentralised subnetworks while increasing quality of service through faster speeds, scalability and supply reliability. The new Thuringian ring extends across a total of 760 kilometres; it starts in Erfurt and is routed through Arnstadt, Jena, Stadtroda, Saalfeld, Bad Salzungen, Eisenach, Waltershausen and Gotha. The network locations in Heiligenstadt and across the state border towards Sangerhausen and Eisleben are connected to the new optical fibre ring through an existing branch in Halle an der Saale. In Saxony and Brandenburg, the new 610 kilometres optical fibre ring runs through Wei-wasser, Niesky, L-bau and Bautzen, Dresden, Gro-enhain and Riesa all the way to Finsterwalde, L-bben, L-bbenau and Cottbus. Niesky and Finsterwalde are also connected with one another through a branch via Hoyerswerda and Senftenberg. addition, the easily scalable connection to the internet backbone also opens up new opportunities for a redundant, centralised TV signal feed. For example, channel changes that are implemented at a small number of major headends can now be applied to significantly more subnetworks. Locations on the rings can also benefit sooner from the addition of new channels. In the regions where the new optical fibre rings are located, the Tele Columbus Group operates a large number of modern cable networks, some of which already offer fibre-to-the-building (FTTB) connections. In most cases, this technology enables bandwidths of up to 400 Mbit/s. In the second phase of the Tele Columbus Group's multi-phase upgrade concept, optical fibre networks will be extended to offer customers fibre-to-the-home (FTTH) connections, which will make simultaneous gigabit-level upload and download speeds a reality.