Good practice:

"Model Lower Austria" Fiber-Optic Internet Infrastructure

The telecommunications infrastructure for end customer connections consists almost exclusively of copper cables. These lines to the individual connections become too long (the longer, the slower), especially in rural areas, and are partly outdated. The consequence is that only low bandwidth is available for data transmission. Due to the low density of connections, this infrastructure is not renewed by telecom companies in small towns.

The province of Lower Austria has founded its own telecommunications company in order to be able to deploy passive FTTH infrastructure in communities with less than 5,000 inhabitants. A fiber optic infrastructure from a central access point (POP) to each individual home and business was created (bitstream open access model with point to point FTTH network). The infrastructure is leased to neutral network operators, they have contracts with different service providers which offer their service to the end customers.

This was successfully tested in 4 pilot regions with 37 municipalities and 35.000 connections (households and companies).

The new infrastructure enables high bandwidths for end customers at low cost. Residents and businesses in rural areas benefit, as they no longer have to commute to urban areas for certain tasks. The municipalities support this infrastructure by offering favourable co-location possibilities for the fibre optic infrastructure and by their commitment in the acquisition of new connections for end customers.

4 Pilot Regions:
* Strategic investor for a Public-Private-Partnership.
* Total €300 million financing: 35 000 homes passed in pilot regions and additional 100,000 homes passed in “Phase 2” currently under implementation.
* In addition, federal subsidies are being claimed for this expansion.

The testing in the 4 pilot regions was completed positively in 2019. Approx. 35,000 households will benefit from future-proof fibre-optic infrastructure right up to the household level. Within the framework of a Public Private Partnership Model, the further financing of the fibre optic expansion was put out to tender and the contract was awarded before the end of 2019. Therefore € 300 million (excluding subsidies) are available for further expansion of 100,000 connections by 2023.

Challenges:
* Ensure a project setup which allows deployment of FTTH in rural areas AND is attractive to international investors.
* Convince the numerous local stakeholders (e.g. communities) of the importance and motivate them to cooperate.
* Set technical standards for a nationwide expansion.

SUCCESS FACTORS
* Well considered implementation level (municipal level is to small, existing regional coalitions of municipalities much better)
* Separating the layers (3-LOM) and focusing on infrastructure but don’t start roll-out without end-user demand aggregation
* Build up the right financial model at the beginning of the project, not in the middle
* Establish processes for planning, building and maintaining passive infrastructure / Build standardized passive infrastructure and establish high quality documentation
* Exploit synergies in municipal services (road, water, construction, geo-data management)
* Long-term thinking, commitment and endurance
* Setting up a professional, fully committed management team

Municipalities, private companies and service providers have cooperated to make this a successful open and public model. Already in the first stage the model was awarded as winner of the European Broadband Awards 2016 – category “openness and competition” by EU.