A1 Telekom Austria (A
1, ''A eins'') is the leading fixed and
mobile network operator in Austria, with 5.4 million mobile and 2.3 million fixed-line customers. A1 Telekom Austria traces its origins to Austria's first GSM mobile phone network which began testing in 1992 and commercial operations in 1994, under the name Mobilkom Austria, then part of the Austrian state-owned
PTT agency ''
Post- und Telegraphenverwaltung'' (
de; PTV) until it was split off into its own company in 1996. After Mobilkom's merger with
A1 Telekom Austria Group in July 2010 it operates under the new name of A1 Telekom Austria.
A1 Telekom Austria is a 100% subsidiary of A1 Telekom Austria Group. A1 Telekom Austria offers
fixed–mobile convergence Fixed–mobile convergence (FMC) is a change in telecommunications that removes differences between fixed and mobile networks.
In the 2004 press release announcing its formation, the Fixed-Mobile Convergence Alliance (FMCA) said:
"Fixed Mobile Con ...
. The product portfolio includes
Fixed line
A landline (land line, land-line, main line, home phone, fixed-line, and wireline) is a telephone connection that uses metal wires or optical fiber telephone line for transmission, as distinguished from a mobile cellular network, which uses ...
and
mobile telephony,
internet
The Internet (or internet) is the global system of interconnected computer networks that uses the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to communicate between networks and devices. It is a '' network of networks'' that consists of private, pub ...
,
IT services
Information technology service management (ITSM) is the activities that are performed by an organization to design, build, deliver, operate and control information technology (IT) services offered to customers.
Differing from more technology-or ...
,
IPTV
Internet Protocol television (IPTV) is the delivery of television content over Internet Protocol (IP) networks. This is in contrast to delivery through traditional terrestrial, satellite, and cable television formats. Unlike downloaded med ...
, wholesale services as well as mobile payment services. It offers products under the brands ''A
1'' (complete services offer), ''Bob'' and ''Yesss!'' (
No frills-mobile telephony) as well as ''Red Bull MOBILE'' (co-operation with
Red Bull).
A1 Telekom Austria Group currently has over 24 million users in 8 countries. It created more than 4 billion EUR and has over 17.500 employees. The group is the European unit of the company América Móvil, the 3rd biggest provider of wireless services in the world.
A1 Telekom Austria Group also operates in the following markets: Belarus, Bulgaria, Croatia, North Macedonia, Serbia and Slovenia.
History
The company launched
GPRS in 2000. Three years later A1 introduced
3G UMTS
The Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) is a third generation mobile cellular system for networks based on the GSM standard. Developed and maintained by the 3GPP (3rd Generation Partnership Project), UMTS is a component of the In ...
which was upgraded first to
HSDPA
High Speed Packet Access (HSPA) is an amalgamation of two mobile protocols—High Speed Downlink Packet Access (HSDPA) and High Speed Uplink Packet Access (HSUPA)—that extends and improves the performance of existing 3G mobile telecommunic ...
in 2007 and afterwards to
HSPA+ in March 2009; followed by
4G LTE in September 2010,
DC-HSPA+
Evolved High Speed Packet Access, HSPA+, HSPA (Plus) or HSPAP, is a technical standard for wireless broadband telecommunication. It is the second phase of HSPA which has been introduced in 3GPP release 7 and being further improved in later 3GPP ...
in December 2010,
LTE-A
LTE Advanced (LTE+) is a mobile communication standard and a major enhancement of the LTE (telecommunication), Long Term Evolution (LTE) standard. It was formally submitted as a candidate 4G to ITU-T in late 2009 as meeting the requirements of t ...
in 2014,
LTE-A Pro in December 2018 and
5G NR in January 2020.
In October 2013 A1 Telekom Austria AG acquired 2 x 70 MHz in mobile frequencies in the Austrian multiband auction. The total expenses amounted to EUR 1.03 billion.
As a consequence of the acquisition of
Orange Austria
Orange Austria was an Austrian mobile network operator. It started its business on 26 October 1998 as owner of the third GSM license of the country, and the first provider operating in the GSM 1800 band. Since 2004, Orange (previously known as ''O ...
by
Hutchison Drei, A1 acquired the discount brand Yesss! from Orange for €390 million.
In December 2021, A1 had a market share of 49.2% in broadband and 38.6% in voice mobile. The company had around 5 million mobile and 3 million fixed line subscribers at year end 2021.
A1 Austria debuted its newly refreshed logo on 24 May 2018 after Telekom Austria's Bulgarian subsidiary was rebranded ''A1 Bulgaria''.
Sponsorship
A1 was the title sponsor of the
A1-Ring racetrack from 1996 to 2003 and is a team sponsor of the Austrian Ski Federation (ÖSV) since 1997.
References
External links
Mobile phone companies of Austria
Austrian brands
{{Austria-company-stub