Austria has made a significant contribution to advances in the fields of science and technology. It must be said, however that the achievements of our scientists, engineers, technologists and inventors have not always received the same degree of public acclaim as the work of Austria's great cultural figures. This lead to the fact that most of the famous Austrian scientists had almost no chance to become as well known as their colleges in the United States.
The vast number of different technological as well as scientific innovations having taken place in the past century offers a whole new area to work in, which can be referred to as Information Technology. Starting out with the need to communicate with each other, people become more and more dependent on the telephone as well as the internet services. Communication being one of the most important tools in a fast moving business world, forces its members to permanently adjust and achieve new abilities in the fields of telecommunication.
Whether wired or wireless telephony, data or communication services, Austria's market for telecom services is expected to grow tremendously. The wired telephony accounts for the largest revenue. The wireless market is far behind. All factors support the believe that there is a significant opportunity in the Austrian telecommunications market.
In 1994 the former Austrian PTT was split up into 3 profit centres, i.e., Telecommunications, Mail Services, and Bus Transportation. As soon as deregulation took place, many new providers entered the market, e.g. competitive wired service providers as well as cable companies. With the loss of the telecommunication monopoly came the loss of the proceeds.
The new private E-net, based on GSM technology, was tendered to the public in 1995. Since 1998 the private providers reached the equality status with the PTA and are able to provide their clients with their own equipment.
In 1998, private cable companies began to compete with the Austrian PTT and have been offering multimedia services through cable connections (60 channels, Pay-TV, Home shopping, Pay-Per-View, phone, access to the internet )
Some years ago the Austrian government passed a law to allow private radio and TV-stations. The cable companies would be eager to offer their own broadcasting services because they have already established the infrastructure to offer such services.
Just a few weeks ago, Austria reached the status of full digitalisation. The digital network (OES) is also used for data transmission and provides the basis for the ISDN services.
In the past few years the amount of people with interest and acceptance for the internet reached its highest level. Almost 100 % of the Austrian business is provided with a telephone. The cellular phone is an every-day equipment for 90 % of the business people. In comparison to this high rate, only the half of them use the internet. Therefore the high percentage (17 %) of the users having built up their own homepage is remarkably high. In the international comparison, Austria is among the advanced countries.
The level of sophistication and English language skills is, however, not as high as in Scandinavian countries or the Netherlands. Particularly in technical education, the level of knowledge in English is poor, although it is more required than ever.
In most cases, computer classes are still taught separately in middle schools and higher education. There has, however, been an increased effort in inspiring students to use computers. There has also been an effort to better integrate the computer in the classroom and to educate teachers to facilitate the process.
Hence, a loss of highly talented IT engineers does not seem to be a problem. The EU allows all citizens of the member states to move freely within the boundaries of the single market, acknowledging degrees from the home countries of the people. It is not clear whether this opportunity will have a significant impact on the Austrian computer professional society. Immigration laws are very strict in Austria. It is not easy to hire foreigners legally.
Historically, the government and education sectors have been the drivers of IT development. With the increased office automation, however, more and more businesses demand sophisticated computer hardware and software. This was mainly a result of falling market prices due to competition and the growing acceptance to use computers.
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