Mobile phone use continues to increase: more than 12 million mobile numbers in use in Austria

Press release dated 12 November 2010

“The most recent market figures from the RTR Telecom Monitor indicate the extent to which the popularity of mobile phones has continued to rise among Austrians. For the first time, more than 12 million SIM cards were in use during the second quarter of 2010, about 7 million of which were 2G SIM cards, while the number of 3G SIM cards exceeded the five-million mark,” Georg Serentschy, Managing Director of RTR’s Telecommunications and Postal Services Division, announced, citing data from the recently published RTR Telecom Monitor. “The market penetration of mobile phones increased by 5 percentage points between the first and second quarters of 2010 to reach a level of 145%.”

Phone minutes and text messaging increase, MMS messaging remains constant

The reason for the upward trend in phone minutes is that tariff schemes more and more often include free minutes or flat rates. Austrians made mobile phone calls totaling about 5.54 billion minutes in the second quarter of 2010, representing an increase of 1.4% compared to the first quarter of 2010, and sent 1.58 billion text messages. The quantity of MMS messages sent in each of these quarters remained constant at about 8 million.

Number of mobile broadband users continues to grow

“Market penetration of mobile broadband use reached the 40% mark for the first time in the second quarter of 2010. This means that, in statistical terms, four out of 10 households in Austria have mobile broadband access,” Serentschy revealed, citing other data from the RTR report.  

The RTR Telecom Monitor, published every quarter, is based on the data collected by RTR. The publication presents a compilation of market data, derived from the fixed-line network, leased-line, mobile service and broadband sectors, and of key financial figures. The latest edition of the Telecom Monitor, surveying the period from the third quarter of 2007 through to the second quarter of 2010, may be viewed on the RTR website by following this link: