There is still a lot of catching up to do in Austria when it comes to fiber optic internet use. The telecom regulator RTR came to this conclusion in a study published yesterday, Thursday.
Austria is lagging behind, especially when it comes to the so-called “take-up rates”. These describe the relationship between used and actually available fiber optic connections. “Across Austria, the ratio was 19 percent in the second quarter of this year. That corresponds to an increase of five percentage points over the past two years, which is fundamentally positive,” says Klaus Steinmaurer, RTR CEO who was born in Wels and grew up in the Innviertel.
However, with this rate, Austria occupies the penultimate place in the European Union. Only in Greece is the take-up rate lower, most recently it was 7.6 percent there. For comparison: leader Finland is more than 90 percent, in Iceland and Norway it is more than 80 percent.
One reason for Austria’s performance is the traditionally high demand for mobile Internet, for example in the form of cubes or WLAN modems, says Steinmaurer. Around a third of households opt for this variant. Users would also refuse a fiber optic connection for cost reasons or because of excavation work.
Upper Austria ahead nationwide
According to RTR, there are major regional differences in Austria. “The bandwidth of the state-specific take-up rates ranges from four percent (Salzburg) to 33 percent (Upper Austria),” says the study. In order to increase the rates, RTR proposes a number of measures. Connection subsidies for households, the regulation of product advertising in relation to mobile broadband and increased communication on the necessity and importance of fiber optics on the part of politicians are required.
As reported, the government wants to expand broadband internet throughout Austria by 2030. Florian Tursky (VP), State Secretary for Digitization and Broadband, referred to the second broadband billion in a broadcast yesterday. Of this, 900 million euros flowed this year. In order to increase the take-up rates, they only support projects in which fiber optic cables are also laid into the house, it is said.
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