Almost three years after a major legislative overhaul, the liberalisation of the Austrian telecommunications market has made significant progress. The legal framework for the electronic communications markets within the European Union (EU) was laid down in five EU directives in 2002 and was implemented under Austrian law in the Telecommunications Act of 2003 (TKG 2003).
When the European Commission (EC) issued its 11th report, European Electronic Communications Regulation and Markets 2005, in February 2006 the only substantial mention of Austria was a positive one – pointing out “notable successes” concerning broadband penetration, due to “a combination of competing infrastructure and effective regulation”.
