Faster Internet

Fiber optic expansion is being driven forward in Austria

(Bild: spusu)

The domestic mobile network provider Spusu and öGIG, the largest provider of open fiber optic infrastructures in Austria, are intensifying their cooperation with the aim of improving the country's digital infrastructure in the long term. With a clear focus on rural and less developed areas, the two companies also want to give these regions the opportunity to receive a fast fiber optic connection.

Super-fast internet connections via fiber optics and 5G are seen as important future infrastructure. The intensified cooperation between Spusu and öGIG marks "a step forward in the digitalization of Austria" in this context, according to a press release. Fiber optics offers significant advantages compared to conventional Internet technologies such as DSL or cable. The most important are reliability, speed and the ability to transfer large amounts of data without losing performance. In a European comparison, Austria still ranks at the bottom of the league when it comes to the speed of private landline connections.

"We offer fixed-line Internet with almost all partners throughout Austria. We currently have around 25,000 customers, half of whom use fiber optics. The growth we have seen in this area is incredible. We see enormous potential for the future"

Franz Pichler, Gründer und Geschäftsführer von Spusu

Survey shows interest in fiber optics
The above-mentioned features that make fiber optics possible are particularly important in times of increasing home office and digital education. According to a new survey by öGIG, conducted with the market research institute Marketmind, fiber optics is also considered superior by users in terms of reliability and speed.

The current survey, which covered 1,000 households in Lower Austria and Carinthia, shows that 95% of respondents are very satisfied with their fiber optic connection and that interest in fiber optic internet is also high. In areas not yet connected, two thirds of households are interested in such a connection, as can be seen from the survey results.

The collaboration should also give more rural regions the chance of a fiber optic connection.(Bild: spusu)

Rural regions benefit
Despite the obvious advantages, the expansion of fiber optic infrastructure in Austria is associated with challenges. Many rural areas are currently underserved and the high costs of infrastructure development can be a deterrent for individual providers. Of around three million households in the country, only around 10 percent use a fiber optic connection. Spusu wants to exploit this potential. "It's time to make our infrastructure fit for the future. For the last 100 years we have had copper underground, for the next 100 years and beyond it will be fiber optics," Spusu Managing Director Franz Pichler is convinced.