Tyrol invests in high-speed internet

With 891 million euros from the EU's Resilience fund

The Austrian state of Tyrol supports the federal government's announcement of funding for the expansion of high-speed Internet access. An additional 1.4 billion euros will be invested in broadband expansion in Austria by 2026.

With 891 million euros from the EU's Resilience fund, 389 million euros from auction proceeds, and 166 million euros from previously budgeted funds, broadband expansion could regain momentum following the broadband billion. In a broadcast, regional councillor Patrizia-Zoller Frischauf (VP), who is also in charge of digitisation, welcomed the federal initiative.

The state will be actively involved again this time, she explained, so that Tyrolean municipalities can finish constructing their fibre-optic networks throughout the country. An additional ten million euros will be allocated as part of the economic offensive initiated in 2021 in response to the Coronavirus crisis. According to the regional councillor, this is done to ensure that planned programmes are carried out.

Investing 10 million euros each year

Since 2014, the state has given ten million euros each year to local communities for the construction of fibre-optic networks. Additionally, a total of 100 million euros will be made available by 2023 for the extension of “ultra-fast Internet with affordable fibre-optic lines.” Tyrol has connected 187,400 new households since 2014. So far, the state has invested 78 million euros in broadband expansion.

According to Zoller-Frischauf, the fibre-optic pact for Tyrol established a groundbreaking direction and cooperation between Tyrolean municipalities and 13 Internet service providers last summer, so that all stakeholders could pull together with the broadband expansion.

The state extended its digitization offensive in September 2020 to include a new fibre-optic link check for private households, which was well received by the population. To date, 1,070 funding applications have been funded, with a total of 661,000 euros distributed. The application deadline for the fibre-optic link review for private households is 30 November 2021.