AUSTRIA

• "Wireless Local Area Networks (WAS, WLAN, RLAN)," News release 15/2005, Rundfunk & Telekom Regulierungs-GmbH, in English: a general license has been granted for WLANs to operate in the 2.4 and 5 GHz bands.
• Click here for a graphic summary and downloadable documentation of the 2.4 and 5GHz WLAN regulations, including the bands 5.150-5.350 GHz and 5.470-5.725 GHz. The use of WLANs to provide commercial services to "third parties" requires notification of the regulator.
• "WLAN für Österreichs Autobahnen," ORF Futurezone, 13 April 2006 in German; English translation here: "In-the-car Internet surfing or VoIP telephony by WLAN - these are to become realities on the motorways of Austria according to the future plans of ASFiNAG [the state corporation for financing roads and highways]. A pilot project starts shortly on the southern highway in the region of Klagenfurt... The project's particular technical difficulty is with the WLAN's small range... At a speed of 130 kilometers per hour, there would be approximately 20 handovers per minute..."
• "Funk Schnittstellen Beschreibungen für Funkanlagen kurzer Reichweite" (Descriptions of radio interfaces for short-range radio communication systems), Bundesministerium für Verkehr, Innovation und Technologie, 6 December 2004, 52 pages in German: permitted parameters for short-range devices.
• Wifi Österreich.
• "Gratis WLAN Hotspots in Traditionscafés," Pressetext Austria, 31 August 2007, in German: Freewave and the Viennese Coffeehouse Owners Club agree to launch free WiFi hotspots in Vienna's traditional cafes.
• Funk-internet.at.
• "Freies WLAN für die Nachbarschaft," Matrix Forum (futurezone@ORF.at). A short item in German about the Funkfeuer freenet in Vienna.
• "Free Wi-Fi access to e-government in Austria," eGovernment News, 27 February 2004.
• Conference archive, "Open Cultures: Free Flows of Information and the Politics of Commons," Kunsthalle Wien, 5-6 June 2003.
• Vision und Realität Freier Community Netze - Selbstorganisation in der Netzkultur (Free community nets' vision and reality - self-organization in the net culture). Master's thesis by Christof Autengruber, Salzburg University, January 2007, in German.
• "NXP sets up Reference Design Centre in Austria," by Pallavi B, Digital Media Europe, 20 June 2007: "Netherlands-based NXP Semiconductors, a semiconductor company founded by Philips and provider of RFID chips, has established a Reference Design Centre (RDC) with the aim of facilitating deployment and adoption of RFID technology. Based near Graz, Austria, the RDC seeks to improve the performance and reliability of existing RFID systems by thoroughly testing applications under real-life conditions for various industries such as pharmaceutical, manufacturing and retail..."
• "Weltweit umfassendste kommerzielle Einführung von NFC Services," [Commercial introduction of the world's most comprehensive NFC services], Mobilkom press release, 4 September 2007, in German: in the next few days, the GSM subsidiary of Telekom Austria, mobilkom austria, will launch Near-Field Communication (NFC) services throughout the country with its partners NXP Semiconductors, Nokia, ÖBB (Austrian Federal Railways) and Wiener Linien (Vienna's main public transport provider). With a single movement of the hand, a mobile phone can act as a railway ticket, tram ticket, pay-and-display parking ticket, lottery ticket and more...
• "NFC Research Lab Rolls Out Smart Posters," by Rhea Wessel, RFID Journal, 13 August 2008: "The NFC Research Lab at the Hagenberg campus of Upper Austria University of Applied Sciences has rolled out a smart-poster application utilizing NFC technology that provides tourists with information about the town of Hagenberg. The application is the first of its kind in that country... The project, launched last January, includes 20 informational signs and maps embedded with Near Field Communication (NFC) RFID tags that have been erected around the city in scenic outlooks and other areas..."
• Near-Field Communications aus Österreich.

Europe - Regional Overview