2016 Austria - Telecoms, Mobile, Broadband and Digital Media - Statistics and Analyses

Austrian MVNOs double their market share of subscribers in a year

Austria’s telecom market is dominated by the incumbent Telekom Austria and the cableco UPC Austria. There is good competition in the fixed-line broadband and mobile sectors, largely due to effective regulatory measures. América Móvil has a controlling interest in Telekom Austria, though in mid-2016 it reduced its stake in the incumbent in line with commitments made when it first bought into the operator in 2014.

Austria’s highly competitive mobile market continues to benefit from new entrants in the MVNO sector. The market has already undergone recent changes, with 3 Austria having acquired the network and assets of Orange Austria, a move which led a consolidation among three network operators: 3 Austria, T-Mobile Austria and Telekom Austria’s own unit A1. The number of MVNOs has increased steadily, and by early 2016 the collectively had a 3.6% share of the market. Though this is relatively small, it was double the market share of a year earlier. Part of this growth in the MVNO sector is due to regulatory concessions by which 3 Austria, as part of its Orange take-over, was obliged to provide a third of its network capacity to support up to 16 MVNOs. The operators’ LTE networks have benefited from measures which have allowed operators to refarm existing 2G and 3G spectrum for LTE, while spectrum in the 700MHz has also been set aside for mobile broadband use once this band is released from broadcasters.

The Austrian fixed-line broadband market continues to be dominated by the DSL sector, which rapidly overtook cable as the preferred access method. UPC Austria is the leading cable operator, while Telekom Austria retains a leading share of the DSL market. The operator has invested in vectoring VDSL and G.fast technologies in a bid to deliver fast broadband services in urban areas with less investment than is required via FttP. However, there has been a shift in investment towards fibre, with the incumbent having invested €400 million during 2015 to improve its networks, and with the government having allocated €1 billion in public funding to upgrade infrastructure nationally.

Key developments:

• América Móvil sells 7.8% stake in Telekom Austria, reducing interest to 51.9%;
• ZTE signs an MoU with 3 Austria to trial pre-5G technologies;
• MVNOs secure 3.6% market share of subscribers;
• LTE available to about 98% of the population;
• 700MHz spectrum to be assigned for mobile broadband use;
• Public broadcaster ORF to transition to DVB-T2 standard by February 2019;
• UPC Austria acquires regional cableco Kabel-TV Stadl-Paura;
• Telekom Austria delivers 100Mb/s with G.fast technology;
• Report update includes the regulator’s market data to Q1 2016, telcos’ financial and operating data to Q2 2016, recent market developments.

Companies mentioned in this report:

Telekom Austria, Tele2 Austria, tele.ring, eTel Austria, UPC Austria, Orange Austria, 3 Austria, A1, Mundio, Lycamobile, Yesss!, M:Tel Austria, Hofer Telekom, Xlink, T-Mobile Austria.