Image: (dpa)
Austria’s telecommunications industry is calling for an end to the expansion of fast internet. Yesterday, Wednesday, several companies in the Internet Offensive Austria industry association – including the market leaders A1, Magenta and Drei, which are particularly strong in mobile communications – appealed to the federal government to stop offering any further broadband expansion funding. It is said that the necessary financial resources are sufficient.
Instead, the money should flow into a digitalization offensive for private individuals and companies. 400 million euros are earmarked for the next funding tranche.
The telecommunications companies criticize that the funding is now failing in its purpose. “Due to the distribution of public funding for construction work in recent years, the market has now become overheated,” said Natascha Kantauer-Gansch, who is responsible for consumer business at A1. There are bottlenecks and price increases for construction work and equipment. Overall, this has meant that, according to the Internet offensive, hardly any of the 900 million euros in broadband expansion funding distributed last year has been accessed and installed to date.
There is also a lack of workers to implement the construction projects. By 2030, there would be a shortage of around 58,000 skilled workers in Internet and communications technology and related industries.
Kantauer-Gansch admitted that a funding stop would not lead to less construction. Because the expansion is not solely dependent on funding. Bureaucratic hurdles would have to be reduced. A1 is waiting 18 months for building permits for urgent expansion procedures, said the manager. Faster procedures saved costs, conserved resources and made Austria fit for the future.
Research, development, education
Like Drei boss Rudolf Schrefl and Magenta boss Rodrigo Diehl, Kantauer-Gansch suggests stimulating demand for broadband instead of expansion. This would allow higher usage to be achieved. Currently, users are particularly deterred by fees for a broadband connection (often via fiber optic) and monthly fees.
The telecommunications companies are also demanding that the money be invested in digital education and technical schools as well as research and development locations. The office of the politically responsible State Secretary Florian Tursky (VP) says that there will probably be another call for funding from the second broadband billion in November.
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Source: Nachrichten
