Building on the methodological paper published in May 2020, RTR.Telekom.Post conducted a study of interpersonal communication services and instant messengers in Austria (available in German). The preliminary assessment of competition are based on empirical data about the usage of these services in Austria.
One significant finding regards the predominance of a handful of providers in Austria. Any-to-any availability however is not in jeopardy, as nearly everyone uses traditional telecommunications services in parallel. Instant messengers furthermore do not exercise market power on prices set on the service level. As a rule, instant messengers are integrated into digital ecosystems, which finance these services for strategic reasons.
This study was conducted with the involvement of the Austrian Federal Competition Authority (BWB) within the scope of our co-operation on digital topics.