In the southeast of Ebersberg, here the church of St. Anna in Traxl, it is picturesque, but if you want to make a phone call there, you are unlucky. The city now wants to change that.
(Photo: Peter Hinz-Rosin)
The area around the district town is ideal for excursions. Most day trippers are looking for relaxation – but some also want cell phone reception. So it was recently learned in the Ebersberg Committee for Finance, Economics and Digital. “Some go to Grafing when they have to go online,” said Mayor Ulrich Proske (non-party) about the dead zone around Traxl.
But this should now be stuffed according to the old motto: “If you want something to be done right, you have to do it yourself.” Because the district town has been trying for some time to connect its localities to modern communication. The company has been in contact with Vodafone and Telekom since 2018 in order to finally resolve the “permanent undersupply of mobile communications strength” in the south-east of Ebersberg.
Since 2019 there has also been a commitment for funding: Ebersberg can get up to half a million euros from the “Mobile Communications” program of the Free State of Bavaria. Not much has happened since then, and that has to do with another undersupply in the communication area: the poor internet connection in the country. The broadband expansion should help against this – but until it was decided how this would take place, the expansion of the mobile network was also on hold.
The mast is to be built north of Traxl
In the meantime, however, the plan is here so that things can go on again with Traxl’s cell phone mast. As chief office manager Erich Ipsen now explained in the committee, the location has already been as good as secured. Originally the transmitter mast should have been built on the hill directly north of Traxl, after consultation with the nature conservation authority in the district office, the location is now being moved a little to the east next to the road to Englmeng. An agreement has already been reached with the owners of the land, and the forestry office has also given its approval, but the final decision is still pending.
Should this come in and the mast can be built, the city should do this itself, suggested the administration. According to Ipsen, the funding program expressly allows this option “if the companies do not want to do it”. However, the city would not be a mobile operator, the mast is leased to a company. The model already exists in Ebersberg, the observation tower on Ludwigshöhe belongs to the city and is rented out to mobile network operators as a transmission mast. In the current case, however, the lease agreement must already be concluded before the transmission mast can be built, only then is there subsidy. Since this is 80 percent of the costs, but a maximum of half a million euros, the construction should not cost more than 625,000 euros, the administration calculated.
The city of Ebersberg already has a transmitter: the roof of the observation tower is used for mobile phone reception.
(Photo: Peter Hinz-Rosin)
The committee members were also convinced of the do-it-yourself solution, but had a few factual questions. For example, the CSU city council and residents of Traxl Hans Hilger wanted to know whether the transmission mast would also have an impact on the planned broadband expansion. Not directly, so the mayor, the projects are separate. However, the cell phone tower will also have to have a broadband connection. Jürgen Friedrichs (Greens) asked whether a new transformer station should also be built for the mast. This is still being checked, said Proske, maybe the existing one in Traxl could be upgraded.
There is no criticism from local residents, on the contrary
Marina Matjanovski (CSU) asked about the acceptance of the new transmitter mast, “otherwise there is often criticism when something like this is built”. According to the mayor, the opposite is the case, residents of the surrounding towns are pressing for the mast to be built, “they finally want a decent connection”. Hilger also confirmed that he and his neighbors were all in favor of the building. Just like one town further on, in Rinding, said the SPD city councilor Stefan Mühlfenzl, who lives there: “We welcome the fact that the periphery is connected to the network.” It is also true that “the landscape is being affected somewhat”, but the advantages clearly outweigh the disadvantages, and there are also businesses in the towns that depend on a decent reception.
Without dissenting votes, the committee recommended that the city council decide on the do-it-yourself version for the transmitter mast at Traxl. It is certain that this will follow the recommendation on December 14th.