Telekom Austria to merge fixed and mobile units

Telekom Austria is to merge its mobile and fixed operations Mobilkom Austria and Telekom Austria.

The merger will take place later in the year, leading to the creation of new company A1 Telekom Austria. The management board will consist of Hannes Ametsreiter as CEO/chief commercial officer, Dino Dogan as chief integration officer, Walter Goldenits as chief technology officer and Siegfried Mayrhofer as chief financial officer.

The Austrian telcom said the main objective of the merger is to “meet increasing customer demand for integrated telecommunications solutions and convergent products”. It will also enable joint management of marketing, sales and customer service activities. Hannes Ametsreiter, CEO of Telekom Austria Group, said: “With the merger of the fixed and mobile operations we are creating considerable advantages for our customers, who in the future will be offered all communications services from one source. This step also reflects the evolution of the Austrian market, where customers increasingly demand convergent products. At the same time this enables us to combine the innovative strengths of these two business operations.”

Separately, Telekom Austria has reported full year revenue of €4.8bn for 2009, down 7.1% year-on-year. EBITDA was up to €1.8bn from €1.3bn. The telco ended the year with 101,300 aonTV IPTV subscribers and 967,200 fixed broadband subs.