Austria (country regulation overview)

The Austrian telecoms market has seen significant activity during the past year. In 2010 the TKK has completed a market analysis of five wholesale markets and one retail market, and is expected to finalize the analysis of the remaining five markets by the end of the year. Interestingly, unlike many other EU countries, the Austrian regulator, the Telekom Control Kommission (TKK), defines relevant markets specific to Austria and does not follow the EU’s recommended definitions.

Among its key decisions, the TKK obligated the incumbent, A1 Telekom Austria, to provide access to cable ducts and optical fiber, and also permitted alternative operators to offer VDSL2-based services. Alongside this, the Austrian government is carrying out a feasibility study on the deployment of fiber-optic networks to expand broadband networks to the rural regions of the country. These initiatives of the regulator and the government are expected to encourage investment in optical fiber networks, thereby driving the growth of bundled and converged services in the country.

Like many other telecoms regulators of European countries including Denmark, Finland, Germany, the Netherlands, and Norway, the TKK also issued licenses in the 2.6GHz band in September 2010 for offering LTE-based services. The introduction of 4G technologies is expected to enable service providers to launch innovative mobile broadband services at increased speeds, enabling the country to remain in competition with its counterparts in the EU region.