According to Ookla, Austria has 958 5G deployment locations
In July 2020, Austria’s three largest mobile operators reported that the country’s 5G rollout was stalling, due mostly to the high prices associated with mobile masts rentals, as well as a lack of state incentives.
At the time, Andreas Bierwirth, the chief of Deutsche Telekom’s Austrian division Magenta, called Austria’s 5G rollout “stuck,” adding that other countries like Germany are quickly catching up.
“With bad luck we will be overtaken left and right by one or the other country,” he added.
Austria’s modest population of 8.9 million people has made it possible for the small country to become somewhat of a 5G pioneer, according to many accounts. Austrian operators hope to deploy 5G services at main traffic routes by the end of 2023 and have planned to have nearly nationwide 5G coverage by the end of 2025.
With 5G networks deployed in 958 locations, according to Ookla’s coverage map, Austrian operators were well on their way to accomplishing these goals. However, it remains to be seen how much some of last summer’s setbacks around mast rentals will slow them down.
According to Bierwirth, rental costs for mobile masts in Austria are often more than twice as much as in some German cities. As a result, the Austrian government has said it’s committed to providing public infrastructure for mobile masts. However, the operators complain the implementation has been too slow.
While the operators await a sizable reduction in mobile mast costs and other fees, they continue to do what they can to bring nationwide 5G coverage to Austrians. Below is a closer look at some of that progress.
Magenta Telekom
In 2019, T-Mobile Austria and UPC Austria merged to form Magenta Telekom.
Owned by German telecom group Deutsche Telekom, the newly formed telco launched commercial 5G services in March 2019 and expects to cover 50% of Austrian households with 5G technology by the end of 2021, a company spokesperson told RCR Wireless News.
The telco ended last year with 1,200 5G sites nationwide, covering approximately 40% of households. In July 2020, the 5G service reached 400 locations, while 1,000 locations were 5G-capable in October.
“Currently we have a Standalone 5G network, a 5G Campus to be precise, in a smart factory of the Technical University of Graz for scientific and business development purposes based on a cooperation between Magenta Telekom and the university. We are hoping for an official opening as soon as possible. The coronavirus outbreak postponed the opening which was initially planned for summer 2020,” the spokesperson said.
The spokesperson did not reveal the number of 5G subscribers but noted that Magenta Telekom aims to attract more 5G subscribers this year with the 5G network also growing and reaching more homes and businesses. “In its expansion strategy, Magenta Telekom relies on the variety of networks. In rural areas, 5G and LTE will bring Internet to remote valleys in Austria. In cities, the fiber optic cable network, along with the other technologies, will provide broadband internet.”
Magenta is also exploring a number of 5G use cases for the enterprise segment and in one particular case is providing technical support and network coverage for an intelligent traffic light solution based on 5G that is being implemented by Technical University Vienna and Swarco. The telco has also provided three nursing robots to the Floridsdorf Clinic in Vienna that measure patient temperatures in the children’s outpatient clinic and provide information about diseases.
Megenta got much of what it needed to deploy 5G, spectrum-wise, during Austria’s early March auction in 2019, where it spent 57 million euros ($63 million). Soon after, the company activated its first 25 5G base stations, primarily in rural regions.
“With investments of 57 million euros in 5G spectrum, T-Mobile is sending a clear signal for Austria’s digital future. This March 26, 2019 is a historic day for our company. We are launching the first 5G network in Austria and offering our first customers mobile broadband with fiber-optic speeds over 5G,” CEO Andreas Bierwirth said.
Austria’s most recent spectrum auction took place in September 2020 and dealt with frequencies in the 700 MHz, 1.5 GHz and 2.1 GHz bands. The auction raised $250 million, with Magenta spending nearly more than $106 million for 90 megahertz.
A1 Telekom
A1 officially launched its commercial 5G services at the end of January 2020. While the telco was a bit late to game compared to the other telcos on this list, its network covered 350 locations across 129 municipalities, making it, at the time, the largest 5G network in Austria, spanning 54,000 square kilometers.
In fact, when clicking through Ookla’s 5G coverage map of Austria, it’s noticeable how often A1 Telekom’s commercially available networks pop up all over the country, including in Liezen, Rottenmann, Leoben, Murau, Fohnsdorf and Judenburg, just to name a few.
About a year prior to its launch, A1 acquired 5G spectrum in the 3.5 GHz band during the country’s first 5G spectrum auction. Later, A1 secured 80 megahertz in the 700 MHz, 1.5 GHz and 2.1 GHz bands for almost $79 million at the September 2020 spectrum auction.
Since then, A1 has secured a service deal with Nokia for LTE and 5G campus networks, which the carrier hopes will help it secure a leading position in enterprise connectivity in Austria. The pair are also piloting 4G and 5G network slicing. In a video, Alexander Stock, A1’s CTO, said the company wants to begin the 5G journey with network slicing as it really sees the demand for this capability amongst its business customers.
Austrian Rail operator OBB is one such customer and in November 2020, A1 offered the company network slicing for automated train control systems.
“With network slicing, we take away the burden of our business customers […] to build their own complex campus networks and maintain those,” Stock stated.
Drei AT
On June 20, 2019, Drei launched its 5G network in the city center of Linz, citing the area’s many large industrials companies as the reason for this. and has continuously expanded since then. By December of the same year, Drei operated 5G networks in Linz, Pörtschach, Wörgl, Leoben, in parts of Graz and Vienna, totaling about 100 5G base stations across the country by the end of 2019.
Drei secured 100 megahertz of 5G-suitable 3.5GHz spectrum covering all twelve designated regions of Austria at the country’s March 2019 spectrum auction, and then, at the country’s latest 5G spectrum auction in 2020, Drei obtained 90 megahertz in the 700 MHz, 1.5 GHz and 2.1 GHz bands for more than $60 million.
During ZTE’s Global Wireless User Congress and 5G Summit which took place in October 2019, in Vienna, Austria, Drei’s CEO Jan Trionow told RCR Wireless News that the expansion of the carrier’s commercial 5G network will be mainly driven by market demand in the country.
“Initially,” he said, “we believe that 5G will be used to provide capacity and speeds for our broadband customers.” He also shared that the carrier has nearly 6,000 base stations across the country, which are all expected to get a 5G upgrade within the next couple of years.
