Successor for VX Fiber project found

The Swedish technology company VX Fiber had big plans for Steyr: Upper Austria’s third-largest city was to become the first “gigabit city” in all of Austria. In September 2022, the company announced that it wanted to supply 8,000 buildings with a total of 24,500 connections with the latest fiber optic technology over the next three to four years. The plan was to invest 50 million euros. As everyone in Steyr knows, not much has happened so far. A media-effective groundbreaking ceremony was the most exciting thing, but there are still likely to be a low four-digit number of preliminary contracts with the company, which operates in this country with its sales subsidiary LilaConnect. No one has been available to customers for months, and there is great uncertainty.

Magenta takes over

As the Tips have now learned exclusively, the project is now being revived. The telecommunications provider Magenta, which belongs to Deutsche Telekom, will set up a large-scale network in Steyr through its subsidiary Alpen Glasfaser. The Swedes are expected to inform the existing customers of VX Fiber about this step in the next few days, along with a corresponding follow-up offer from Magenta. “It will be our largest project in Austria at the moment,” said Chief Technology Officer Volker Libovsky in an interview with the Tips. 50 to 60 million euros are to be invested over the next three to five years.

Construction starts in October

Construction work is due to begin in mid-October, and this time everything should go smoothly. “We have been in contact with the city of Steyr for several months and have already received all building permits,” they emphasise. The support of the city government is also highlighted. However, no concrete discussions have been made, but the development is seen as very positive. “For those who live in Steyr, for the city government, for VX Fiber and for us.” So it’s a four-way win-win situation,” says Libovsky. The project will start in the Christkindl and Pyrach districts, before other areas with more than 20,000 households are developed. In principle, the building permit applies to the whole city. The first customers are to be connected over the course of next year, and a total of 200 kilometres of fibre optic cable will be laid. However, they do not see themselves as a monopoly provider; the networks should also be open to other providers.