Telekom Austria's subsidiary, A1 said that it is investing some 500 million euros in 2016 alone to extend Internet coverage in urban and rural areas, upgrading both its fixed broadband network and 4G/LTE networks.
In a move to make its broadband offering better, the Operator is pushing ahead with a 'hybrid boost' technology where both fixed broadband and mobile internet will be combined under a single service. A1's hybrid boost technology will be available via a new ‘Hybrid Box’, offering combined download speeds of up to 100 Mbps and upload speeds of up to 20 Mbps.
Early this year, the Operator partnered Alcatel-Lucent for the deployment of G.fast vectoring and Vplus access technologies. G.fast technology promises speeds up to 1Gbps over a distance of 500m on plain copper, while the VPlus is a DSL technology that allows operators to achieve aggregate speeds of 200 Mbps and more over copper at distances of up to 500 meters and 300 Mbps over distances shorter than 250 meters.
Natascha Kantauer-Gansch, A1 Chief Customer Officer Consumer
Demand for broadband is rising year after year: Austrian households already often use up to six connected devices. With hybrid boost we are now for the first time offering a smart combination of fixed net Internet and 4G/LTE in a single product to meet this demand.
Armin Sumesgutner, A1 Director Service Network Planning
This smart combination of two technologies offers a number of advantages: with A1 fixed net Internet A1 customers enjoy fixed net, undivided bandwidth.
