Ventocom CEO Michael Krammer criticizes the politically motivated legislation against Huawei and wants to wait further with 5G.
If you are hoping for an attractive 5G tariff with the Hofer mobile operator HoT, you will have to be patient a little longer. According to the HoT operator Ventocom, this will probably not exist until 2022. “Currently the expansion of the 5G network is actually only rudimentary and the end devices are not ready yet. We are assuming that the technology will be ready for the market in 2022 that it will also be of interest to the mass market and thus our customers.” , says Ventocom CEO Michael Krammer when asked by futurezone.
Krammer: Operators will open networks
For Krammer, however, there is no question that virtual operators like HoT will soon be able to rent into the 5G infrastructure of the large network operators. There will be a round table in mid-March after the regulatory authority and the federal betting authority have taken on the topic. In view of the network capacities required, 5G is an absolute technical necessity. Since the technology is much more efficient than existing mobile communications and thus reduces production costs, the operators will have no choice but to open their networks, Krammer is convinced.
The balance of HoT and Ventocom was positive in 2020, which was characterized by pandemic and lockdown. Although the overall market has stagnated since 2017, it was possible to increase the number of customers by 115,000 to 1.058 million. This corresponds to an annual growth of 11 percent, the service turnover rose in the same period by 18 million to 86 million euros. As with other operators, HoT Lockdown also recorded a sharp increase in classic telephone calls (plus 26 percent) and data consumption (37 percent), especially for stationary products.
Customers willing to change
According to Krammer, the positive customer growth continued in the first few months of the new year. You benefit from the current price increases for A1, Magenta and Drei and the associated extraordinary termination right of customers. In contrast to changing banks, for example, the hurdle in mobile communications seems less high. According to a study commissioned by Ventocom, 75 percent of all Austrians have already changed their mobile phone provider once or several times.
That will not change even with the planned new telecommunications law, which, according to Krammer, provides for a significant deterioration in contracts for customers. If the mobile operators increase the prices of an existing contract, the customers would then have to repay an amount for the supported device in the event of an extraordinary termination. “From our point of view this is unfair, but it will reinforce the trend towards prepaid and SIM-only tariffs and thus our business model,” says Krammer.
Criticism of Huawei lock
The Ventocom CEO showed little understanding regarding the tough approach towards Huawei. Locking out the company and its technical equipment such as antennas and base stations in many places is primarily politically motivated, as the handling of most NATO countries in comparison to non-NATO countries shows. In the press conference, he even spoke of a populist approach.
From the network operator's point of view, precautions can definitely be taken to minimize the security risk. “If, on the other hand, operators are forced to replace their technical equipment by law that is too restrictive, enormous investment costs come to nothing here, which run counter to the digitization efforts of the respective location,” criticizes Krammer.
Slow internet
Krammer also commented on the problem that mobile internet connections are slowly but surely reaching their limits. Currently, some operators would downgrade their customers in the so-called usage classes. This means the prioritization of connections in radio cells. If a cell is overloaded, the smartphones and routers that connect to it are lined up and the bandwidth is throttled if necessary. HoT continues to guarantee the highest prioritization within the cell for smartphone tariffs.
However, it looks a little different with pure data tariffs. “Here you can currently only pass on what we get from the network operator. Mobile broadband products are classified in a lower priority class by all operators. Especially in densely built-up areas there could of course be bottlenecks. Compared to other operators, customers can cancel at any time if they are not satisfied at a certain location.
No change is planned with regard to the contracts with Magenta and Drei. While HoT's smartphone tariffs have long been processed via the Magenta network, the virtual operator rented a data tariff for the first time from Drei in autumn 2020. The cooperation with both mobile radio operators will continue in the future, a complete change from Magenta to Three is currently not an issue, says Krammer when asked by futurezone.
