That's a good news for the cryptocurrency users of Austria. Telecommunications is a big industry which carryout each and every data transmitted through different pathways. One of the much known telecommunications service render accepting bitcoin will widen the market for bitcoin as it has got its services in different countries.
Same as this there is some good news from Japan as well, Rakuten - which is termed to be the Amazon of Japan have started its cryptocurrency exchange services. It was an crypto friendly venture since 2014 and understanding the need now they've come up with the app which helps in all means of cryptocurrency transaction for bitcoin, BCH and ethereum.
I agree it's definitely a great industry for them to set foot in and showcases more mainstream adoption of BTC, which is great, no matter what happens next.
I don't think it is fully developed though and is as easy to the point where you can purchase a new phone bill and pay it in BTC, and we have no idea of spreads, but it's a good move for BTC adoption.
These are positive signals for the crypto market. Giants are starting to care more about crypto. American telecom giant Verizon was reported to be seeking blockchain talent, including five blockchain developers in an apparent attempt to set up a distributed network
I don't think they "care" about crypto. What those companies do is that it could help them and their customers to be aware of crypto, hence it's a win-win situation for both parties. So this is a significant move from them. They are somewhat bridging the gap and who knows maybe others will follow as well. So it's a game changer is Austria, free advertisement for crypto enthusiast.
Austria is actually one of the most crypto-friendly countries in Malta, and I don't think a mainstream company would suddenly add a new payment option and a lot of hassle for a PR move, I'm pretty sure they'll be accepting BTC for a long time to come.
I don't think they'd bother with the lightning network, I doubt a lot of people there (except the enthusiasts) know about the lightning network there.
My thought as well. I like what LN aims to do and use it myself from time to time, but the network is so small and largely still unknown, that I don't see how it would benefit those who hold Bitcoin but don't know what LN is.
In order to utilize the LN, they have to fund a channel which requires a regular transaction fee. If you just use Bitcoin to pay for things once or twice a month, you don't need the advantages that LN offers.
To add, a lot of payment gateways for convenience sake accept lower value zero confirmation transactions if the transaction has a sufficient fee included. In other words, your transaction is mostly accepted near instantly.
Perfectly said, for now, it's mostly useless for a lot of customers, but maybe in the future when microtransactions are more common, we'll see an increase in usage of the LN.