5G services are expected to be widely available in Austria within the next two years, said president of the Fibre to the Home (FTTH) Council Middle East and North Africa on Monday. The 11th edition of FTTH Council Middle East and North Africa Conference and Exhibition is taking place in Cairo on Monday. The conference has offered in one of its panel discussions Austria's experience of adopting fibre optic services along with its plans to expand through a very significant fruitful cooperation between the private and private sectors. Speaking at the conference, FTTH Council MENA president Juan Colina said Austria is highly active in the expansion of fibre optic networks, which are widely spread across villages and rural areas of more than 5,000 populations. Public and private telecom companies in Austria have been investing in building fibre optic networks for more than 40 years, Colina added. The Austrian government has a 25 percent share in the fibre optic companies operating in the country, he said, referring that operators offer fibre optic services for just 1 euro for consumers. The cost of building the first phase of fibre optic network for 4,000 households had amounted to €100 million, Colina said. The FTTH council is keen on expanding fibre-optic networks to serve the deployment of 5G, which is still new and not widespread enough, he added.
