Austria 2025 – On the Future of Austria's Telecommunications Policy

Austria's investments into broadband infrastructure have been found to be only moderate in international comparisons. This article discusses policy options to stimulate investments. The advent of new transmission technologies (next generation access) aggravates trade-offs which are inherent to the liberalisation. These refer to investment and innovation incentives on the one hand and low consumer prices on the other hand. While Austria's policy debates increasingly address the low investment rates, strategic decisions about the sector's organisation are largely pending. In the short run, these concern the regulatory approach and to a lesser degree the subsidy policy. In the long term, the general organisation of the sector should be clarified. Policy makers should cheese between a state-driven, interventionist model and a private-sector driven model. The currently pursued hybrid approach seems to produce suboptimal outcomes.