The expansion of the fibre-optic network in Lucerne is making good progress. With more than 25,000 households and commercial properties currently connected, ewl energie wasser luzern (ewl) and Swisscom will have already reached 60 per cent of the target households and properties in Lucerne by the end of the year.

The fibre-optic expansion in Lucerne is moving forward rapidly and is now ahead of its original schedule. Since the work began in the spring of 2010, ewl and Swisscom have already installed more than 25,000 fibre-optic outlets throughout the town of Lucerne, fully connecting 60 per cent of households and commercial properties in Lucerne to the high-speed fibre-optic network.

Parts of the town and individual districts are being connected in stages. The following parts of Lucerne are already connected to the fibre-optic network: Maihof/Rotsee, Wesemlin/Dreilinden, Luzerner Kantonsspital/Ibach, St. Karli, parts of Brambergs, Basel-/Bernstrasse, Bruchquartier/Gibraltar, Ober-/Untergütsch, Unterlachen/Tribschen, Langensand/Matthof, Lützelmatt/Bellerive/Schlössli, Sternmatt/Hochrüti and Würzenbach/Schädrüti/Oberseeburg.

In January 2013, the fibre-optic expansion will continue in the districts of Neustadt/Voltastrasse, Obergrundstrasse/Allmend as well as in the Kleinstadt and parts of the Hirschmattquartier. According to the current schedule, 95 per cent of households and commercial properties in ewl's urban coverage area will have access to Lucerne's high-speed fibre-optic network by 2015.

Thanks to ewl and Swisscom, all households in Lucerne will be able to access the fibre-optic network directly from their living-rooms. To achieve this, Swisscom is laying the cables between neighbourhoods and telephone exchanges, while ewl lays the optical fibres to individual households. In other cities across Switzerland, the fibre-optic cables are currently only run into the basements; once the first customer order is placed, the connection is extended into individual households. This fast and customer-focused expansion project is only possible thanks to the close and successful collaboration of Swisscom and ewl.

The fibre-optic network in Lucerne is the fastest and most efficient of all networks used to date, providing homeowners and tenants with a platform on which to access and enjoy the most up-to-date and high-speed internet and multimedia services offered by the various providers. Four fibres are run into every household in the Lucerne fibre-optic network. This open infrastructure allows for competition and therefore gives the end-user full freedom of choice in terms of choosing a telecommunication service provider.

For more information on the Lucerne optical fibre network project, please see: www.luzerner-glasfasernetz.ch

ewl energie wasser luzern
is the leading energy service provider in the Lucerne area. ewl's product range covers electricity, gas, heat and water as well as renewable energies such as solar power, hydro-electric power and biogas from Lucerne. The comprehensive service offering is rounded off by energy consulting, installation and data transfer via optical fibre and WLAN. A private stock company with a holding structure, ewl employs 265 people and consists of four subsidiary companies.