Chemnitz (Saxony) – No connection below your numbers: In a community in central Saxony, most residents have been disconnected from the cell phone network for months.
In Wechselburg, north of Chemnitz, there are many people willing to change jobs. Because with the telephone provider “Vodafone”, the lines are dead 24 hours a day.
With many mobiles, not even the emergency call works
“There are no bus stops here anymore, the Sparkasse closed and then they cut off our phones, even though we have been customers for almost 20 years,” complains Wolfgang Göhler in the Alt-zschillen district of Wechselburg. “In the end, it was always said that we wanted to do more for the rural population.”
Uwe Wündisch (61) is also angry: “I haven’t had a signal since January. When I had cramps a few weeks ago and wanted to call the emergency number, it didn’t even work.” Kathrin Pahlke (58) depends on her cell phone to work: “I work in nursing and I have to be reachable.”
This mobile radio mast on a hill near Wechselburg should now guarantee a new reception
Time and time again they asked Vodafone for help. But nothing has happened since the beginning of the year. When BILD followed the phone giant, everything suddenly happened very quickly: “Tomorrow night we will put a mobile radio antenna into operation there,” explains spokesman Volker Petendorf (58).
Apologies are expressly made to the residents of the Saxon town. Various unfortunate circumstances would have led to the radio hole.
The waves from this radio antenna in Mutzscheroda, a district of Wechselburg to the west, do not reach many of Wechselburg’s residents.
In late 2021, the old radio mast at a former school had to be dismantled after notice was given by the district office. After that, suddenly no mobile was free, e.g. because many were needed in the Ahr valley flood area.
However, the region no longer wants to be left in the lurch in the future: “The mobile mast will remain in place until a new stationary one is erected at the end of 2023,” promises Petendorf.