07/12/2012

Open Access Partnership Between e.wa riss and QSC

Cologne/Biberach an der Riss, July 12, 2012. QSC and e.wa riss finalize agreement on Open Access. QSC, a leading provider of comprehensive ICT services, has gained another Open Access partner - the Biberach based company e.wa riss Netze GmbH. The platform is a network, process and service hub for providers and consumers of Next Generation Access (NGA).

e.wa riss Netze GmbH is the wholly owned subsidiary of e.wa riss GmbH & Co. KG, in which Stadtwerke Biberach and EnBW each hold a 50 percent stake. e.wa riss Netze GmbH is successively expanding its fiber optic network in and around Biberach. Its current focus is on regions where only a limited bandwidth is available. With this agreement, e.wa riss is opening its fiber optic infrastructure to providers outside the region in an effort to rapidly generate a greater utilization of their network. QSC, as a partner and service integrator, will therefore be able to offer its wholesale partners connections with a bandwidth of up to 100 Mbit/s within the e.wa riss infrastructure and thereby promote a greater level of network utilization.

Why Open Access?

"Fiber optic growth is only developing regionally at the moment in Germany," says QSC Management Board member Arnold Stender, commenting on the status quo of national fiber optic networks. "But we have the know-how to make this regional infrastructure available across the nation." A major problem infrastructure providers face is realizing a quick return on their investment. "When network operators invest in expansion, they quickly need a high amount of traffic in order to amortize the costs. The demand is there, but infrastructure providers first need to finalize contracts with each individual consumer, provide network access and coordinate operations processes. That's exactly where QSC comes in as a neutral integrator in the NGA environment. That provides major advantages to both sides."

In addition to e.wa riss, QSC also has agreements with other fiber optic providers. These include NetCologne based in Cologne, wilhelm.tel from Norderstedt, R-KOM in Regensburg, Leipzig-based hl-komm and Stadtwerke Herne.

Queries to:
QSC AG
Arne Thull
Head of Investor Relations
Phone: +49 221 6698-724
Fax: +49 221 6698-009
E-mail: invest@qsc.de
Internet: www.qsc.de

About QSC
Cologne-based QSC AG offers small and mid-size enterprises an extensive range of ICT services - from telephony, data transfer, Housing and Hosting right through to IT Outsourcing and IT Consulting. With its companies INFO AG, a full-line provider of IT services headquartered in Hamburg, and IP Exchange, a Housing and Hosting specialist headquartered in Nuremberg, the QSC Group numbers among the leading mid-size providers of ICT services in Germany. QSC offers custom-tailored Managed Services for individual ICT needs, as well as a comprehensive product portfolio for customers and marketing partners that can be modularly adapted to suit the communications and IT needs in question. QSC offers its services on the basis of its own Next Generation Networks (NGN) and operates an Open Access platform, which unites a wide range of broadband technologies. QSC AG employs a workforce of some 1,400 people and is listed on the TecDAX index.

About e.wa riss Netze GmbH
e.wa riss Netze GmbH is a wholly owned subsidiary of e.wa riss GmbH & Co. KG, in which Stadtwerke Biberach GmbH and EnBW each hold a 50 percent stake. e.wa riss Netze GmbH assumed the role of distribution network operator on January 1, 2007. It plans and manages all activities for the construction, development and marketing of electricity and gas distribution networks. With the brand ewacom, e.wa riss Netze GmbH has been offering high-speed communications over fiber optic networks in Biberach and numerous surrounding communities since 2011.