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Join Watson Farley & Williams and SBR-net Consulting AG at our webinar on “The Future of Municipal Infrastructure – Cooperation, Partnerships and Investments in Fiber Optic Networks” on Thursday 6 November 2025.

The economic expansion and operation of high-performance fibre-optic networks is increasingly presenting municipal utilities with strategic, economic and structural challenges. Given the high investment costs, complex legal frameworks and limited scalability, it is becoming clear that independent expansion and operation by individual municipal utilities is no longer economically viable in many cases.

As a result, cooperation, partnerships and investment models are becoming increasingly important. They make it possible to share risks, leverage synergies and sustainably improve the profitability of fibre-optic projects. At the same time, such models place high demands on legal structuring, technical implementation and economic evaluation.

Against this backdrop, we would like to discuss current developments, challenges and possible solutions with you.

SPEAKERs:

• Christian R. Schindler, Partner at Watson Farley & Williams (Corporate/M&A, Hamburg);
• Rebecca Trampe-Berger, Counsel at Watson Farley & Williams (Regulatory, Düsseldorf); and
• Dr Ernst-Olav Ruhle, CEO at SBR-net Consulting AG.

We are delighted to welcome an experienced practitioner to the webinar: Dieter Lindauer, Managing Director of Stadtwerke Neustadt a. Rbge. GmbH, who will share insights into the challenges and experiences from a municipal utility’s perspective.

AGENDA:

• current market transactions – using Stadtwerke Neustadt a. Rbge. as an example;
• practical insights from a municipal utility’s perspective;
• legal structuring of transactions (share deal, asset deal);
• regulatory requirements depending on the business model;
• specifics of subsidised networks;
• economic evaluation and scalability potential of municipal infrastructures; and
• technical challenges and success factors in implementation and integration into existing utility structures.

Please note: the event will be held in German. We kindly ask you to register your interest via the ‘Register your interest’ button by 5 November 2025.

By registering for the webinar, your data will be shared with Watson Farley & Williams and SBR-net Consulting AG. Your data will be used exclusively for the purposes of this webinar.