Broadband Austria 2030: Connect - 2nd call for proposals

The funding covers the one-off deployment costs for passive physical infrastructure required to establish a symmetrical gigabit connection by a telecommunications provider.

Municipalities (for locations of public educational institutions and public facilities operated or owned by them), SMEs, sole proprietorships (micro-enterprises), public institutions, agricultural and forestry enterprises, as well as fisheries and aquaculture enterprises.

The maximum eligible project costs amount to EUR 50,000. For the connection of public educational institutions by municipalities, the maximum funding rate is 90%, resulting in a maximum subsidy of EUR 45,000. For all other applicants, the maximum funding rate is 75%, resulting in a maximum subsidy of EUR 37,500. Funding may be reduced due to applicable de minimis rules for agricultural, forestry, fisheries, and aquaculture enterprises; further details are provided in the call guidelines. A project can only qualify if the eligible project costs amount to at least EUR 5,000.

The deployed gigabit-capable connection must be designed as a point-to-point (P2P) connection. From a technical perspective, the infrastructure must enable symmetrical gigabit-capable usage.

The internet service used after project completion must support a minimum of 200 Mbps download speed for general use cases and a minimum of 100 Mbps download speed for public educational institutions.

Submission is only possible electronically via eCall. Please note that cooperation with a telecommunications provider is mandatory for the application. The telecommunications provider must be involved by the applicant both in the application and in the final report via eCall. The telecommunications provider is responsible for the technical implementation, the presentation of costs and planned deployments in the BMWKMS WebGIS tool, as well as for ensuring that the project is carried out in accordance with the funding conditions.

Broadband Austria 2030: Connect is a continuous call for proposals, meaning submissions can be made at any time. The funding decision is made by the responsible federal minister based on the recommendation of the evaluation committee.

The evaluation committee meets every two months:

• Submissions up to week 23/2025 will be discussed in the evaluation committee meeting week 29/2025.
• Submissions up to week 31/2025 will be discussed in the meeting of the evaluation committee week 37/2025.
• Submissions up to week 44/2025 will be discussed in the evaluation committee meeting week 48/2025.
• Submissions up to week 48/2025 will be discussed in the evaluation committee meeting week 3/2026.
• Submissions up to week 6/2026 will be discussed in the meeting of the evaluation committee week 11/2026.
• Submissions up to week 14/2026 will be discussed in the evaluation committee meeting week 19/2026.
• Submissions up to week 22/2026 will be discussed in the evaluation committee meeting week 27/2026.
• Submissions up to week 30/2026 will be discussed in the meeting of the evaluation committee week 35/2026.
• Submissions up to week 38/2026 will be discussed in the evaluation committee meeting week 43/2026.
• Submissions up to week 46/2026 will be discussed in the evaluation committee meeting week 51/2026.