Austria Communications - 2024

Telephones - fixed lines

total subscriptions: 3,544,263 (2022 est.)

subscriptions per 100 inhabitants: 43 (2021 est.)

Telephones - mobile cellular

total subscriptions: 10,882,217 (2021 est.)

subscriptions per 100 inhabitants: 122 (2021 est.)

Telecommunication systems

general assessment: mature telecom market; the mobile market benefits from a growing number of Mobile Virtual Network Operators; the telcos as well as the government and regulator have been focused on delivering improved telecom infrastructure; the government has a program to provide a national gigabit service by 2030, delivered by private enterprise though with some state funding; this is based on fiber networks supported by 5G, with the Mobile Network Operators able to expand the reach of their 5G services following auctions held in March 2019 and September 2020; the fixed-line broadband market is still dominated by the DSL sector, while the cable broadband sector has held a steady share of connections in recent years; the fiber sector was slow to develop, and although fiber remains low there are plans to build out the network infrastructure (2021)

domestic: developed and efficient; 43 per 100 fixed telephone subscriptions; 122 per 100 mobile-cellular subscriptions (2021)

international: country code - 43; earth stations available in the Astra, Intelsat, Eutelsat satellite systems (2019)

Broadcast media

worldwide cable and satellite TV are available; the public incumbent ORF competes with three other major, several regional domestic, and up to 400 international TV stations; TV coverage is in principle 100%, but only 90% use broadcast media; Internet streaming not only complements, but increasingly replaces regular TV stations (2019)

Internet country code

.at

Internet users

total: 8.277 million (2021 est.)

percent of population: 93% (2021 est.)

Broadband - fixed subscriptions

total: 2.606 million (2020 est.)

subscriptions per 100 inhabitants: 29 (2020 est.)

Communications - note

note 1: the Austrian National Library contains important collections of the Imperial Library of the Holy Roman Empire and of the Austrian Empire, as well as of the Austrian Republic; among its more than 12 million items are outstanding holdings of rare books, maps, globes, papyrus, and music; its Globe Museum is the only one in the world

note 2: on 1 October 1869, Austria-Hungary introduced the world's first postal card - postal stationery with an imprinted stamp indicating the prepayment of postage; simple and cheap (sent for a fraction of the cost of a regular letter), postal cards became an instant success, widely produced in the millions worldwide

note 3: Austria followed up with the creation of the world's first commercial picture postcards - cards bearing a picture or photo to which postage is affixed - in May 1871; sent from Vienna, the image served as a souvenir of the city; together, postal cards and post cards served as the world's e-mails of the late 19th and early 20th centuries

note 4: Austria was also an airmail pioneer; from March to October of 1918, it conducted the world's first regular (daily) airmail service - between the imperial cities of Vienna, Krakow, and Lemberg - a combined distance of some 650 km (400 mi) (earlier airmail services had been set up in a few parts of the world but only for short stretches, and none lasted beyond a few days or weeks); an expansion of the route in June of 1918 allowed private mail to be flown to Kyiv, in newly independent Ukraine, which made the route the world's first regular international airmail service (covering a distance of some 1,200 km; 750 mi)