Listicle · 6 picks
Which Austrian SIM is best for international calling in 2026?
Updated May 2026. Inside the EU/EEA, all calls and SMS from your Austrian SIM are free under Roam Like at Home (RLAH). For non-EU destinations, six SIMs lead. ay yildiz on Magenta is the cheapest path to Turkey: the Türkei-Paket at EUR 4.90/month for 1,000 minutes. Lyca Mobile Austria bundles 500 minutes across Turkey and the Western Balkans for EUR 9.90/month. Lebara Austria covers South Asia and Africa. A1 International 300 is the only practical option for China.
Which Austrian SIM is best for international calling in 2026?
Turkish specialist · Multi-destination MVNO · South Asia & Africa · Hofer add-on packs · Tier-1 add-on
Six Austrian SIMs cover non-EU calling. ay yildiz on Magenta is the Turkish specialist at EUR 4.90/month for 1,000 Turkey minutes. Lyca Mobile Austria bundles 500 minutes across Turkey and the Western Balkans for EUR 9.90. Lebara Austria wins for South Asia and West Africa. HoT is the cheap base with on-demand World packs. Ortel Mobile targets South Asia and Africa. A1 is the post-paid option with International 60/300 add-ons.
ay yildiz is Magenta Telekom's Turkish-diaspora brand and the cheapest path from Austria to Turkey. The base tariff Yildiz S sits at EUR 9.99/month with 5 GB Austrian data and 1,000 Austrian minutes; the Türkei-Paket add-on costs EUR 4.90/month and includes 1,000 minutes to Turkish landlines and Turkcell/Vodafone/Türk Telekom mobiles. Total monthly cost EUR 14.89. Runs on Magenta's network (T-Mobile Austria). EU roaming included under RLAH.
Lyca Mobile Austria runs on Magenta and is the multi-destination MVNO of choice for ex-Yugoslavia diaspora. The National Plus bundle at EUR 9.90/month includes 500 international minutes usable across Turkey, Serbia, Croatia, Bosnia, Kosovo, North Macedonia, Albania, Romania and Bulgaria, plus 50 GB Austrian data. Activation cards sold at Tabak-Trafik and BILLA. No contract, top-up monthly.
Lebara Austria specialises in family bundles to India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, the Philippines and West Africa. The National Plus tariff at EUR 9.99/month bundles 250 international minutes covering 40+ destinations including Nigeria, Ghana and Senegal alongside 60 GB Austrian data. Lebara's per-minute rate to Indian landlines is EUR 0.02/min beyond the bundle — one of the lowest in Europe. Runs on Magenta.
HoT (Hofer Telekom) is the Aldi/Hofer-owned MVNO on Magenta and Austria's cheapest base tariff. HoT Fix M at EUR 9.90/month ships 35 GB Austrian data plus unlimited Austrian minutes. The HoT World Pack add-on at EUR 5/month includes 200 minutes to 50+ non-EU destinations — Turkey, Serbia, Bosnia, USA, Canada and most of South America. Activation cards on every Hofer checkout for EUR 7.90. No credit check, no contract.
Ortel Mobile is Drei's migrant-family MVNO — the Austrian sibling of Ortel Germany. The Smart 15 tariff at EUR 14.99/month bundles 20 GB Austrian data and 100 international minutes to a country group you nominate (Group 1: South Asia + China; Group 2: West Africa; Group 3: Latin America). Per-minute landline rates beyond the bundle are EUR 0.02–0.05 to most destinations. Activation requires Austrian ID — standard since 2019 under RTR registration rules.
A1 is Austria's incumbent operator with the country's strongest rural and Alpine coverage. International calling on A1 is add-on driven. The A1 Free M contract at EUR 24.90/month includes unlimited Austrian minutes and 75 GB data; the A1 International 300 add-on at EUR 9/month bundles 300 minutes to 60+ countries (Turkey, the Balkans, China, India, USA, Canada). Best for users who want a single bill with bundled handset financing and Magenta-grade RLAH plus the Big-3 network footprint.
Which Austrian SIM is best for each calling destination?
Turkey · Western Balkans · CEE · Ukraine/Russia · South Asia · West Africa · China · Philippines
Match the SIM to the country you actually call. ay yildiz wins outright for Turkey. Lyca takes the Western Balkans (Serbia, Bosnia, Croatia, Kosovo) and Romania/Bulgaria. Lebara dominates South Asia (India, Pakistan, Bangladesh) plus Nigeria and the Philippines. A1's International 300 is the only practical option for China. Ukraine and Russia calling has narrowed since 2022 — use HoT or A1 with per-minute rates.
| Destination | Best pick | Plan / add-on | Included minutes | All-in monthly |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Turkey (TR) | ay yildiz | Yildiz S + Türkei-Paket | 1,000 | EUR 14.89 |
| Serbia (RS) | Lyca Mobile | National Plus | 500 (pooled) | EUR 9.90 |
| Bosnia (BA) | Lyca Mobile | National Plus | 500 (pooled) | EUR 9.90 |
| Croatia (HR) | Any RLAH plan | EU member — included | Unlimited | EUR 0 extra |
| Romania (RO) | Any RLAH plan | EU member — included | Unlimited | EUR 0 extra |
| Bulgaria (BG) | Any RLAH plan | EU member — included | Unlimited | EUR 0 extra |
| Ukraine (UA) | HoT World Pack | Fix M + World Pack | 200 (pooled) | EUR 14.90 |
| Russia (RU) | A1 PAYG | Per-minute, no add-on | — | EUR 0.99/min |
| Nigeria (NG) | Lebara Austria | National Plus | 250 (pooled) | EUR 9.99 |
| Philippines (PH) | Lebara Austria | National Plus | 250 (pooled) | EUR 9.99 |
| India (IN) | Lebara Austria | National Plus | 250 + EUR 0.02/min landline | EUR 9.99 |
| Pakistan (PK) | Lebara / Ortel | National Plus / Smart 15 | 250 / 100 | EUR 9.99 / 14.99 |
| China (CN) | A1 International 300 | A1 Free M + add-on | 300 | EUR 33.90 |
Source: ay yildiz, Lyca, Lebara, HoT, Ortel and A1 public tariff pages; RTR consumer pricing review, verified May 2026
How does international calling work on Austrian SIMs?
Bundled minutes · Add-on packs · PAYG per-minute
Austrian SIMs price calls outside the EU three ways. Bundled minutes ship a flat monthly allowance to a destination list (Lyca, Lebara). Add-on packs let you buy a country-specific bundle on top of a domestic plan (ay yildiz Türkei-Paket, HoT World Pack, A1 International 60/300). PAYG per-minute charges your prepaid balance call by call. Inside the EU/EEA, RLAH makes calls and SMS free at no extra cost.
The mode you pick drives the per-call cost more than the operator. A 50-minute call from Vienna to Istanbul on the ay yildiz Türkei-Paket is effectively free (within the 1,000-minute monthly allowance). The same call on A1's PAYG rate to Turkey is EUR 0.49/min — EUR 24.50. Add-on packs sit in the middle: EUR 4.90–9.00 buys 200–1,000 minutes to a defined destination list, useful when you call one country or one region heavily.
| Mode | How it's priced | Typical Austrian cost | Operators | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bundled minutes | Monthly plan with fixed allowance to a destination list | EUR 9.90–14.99/mo | Lyca Mobile, Lebara, Ortel | Same destinations every month |
| Add-on packs | Country-specific bundle on top of a cheap base tariff | EUR 4.90–9.00 / pack | ay yildiz, HoT, A1, Magenta | Heavy calling to one country |
| PAYG per-minute | Charge per minute deducted from prepaid balance | EUR 0.10–1.50/min | All operators (default) | Occasional short calls |
| RLAH (EU/EEA) | EU 27 + Iceland + Liechtenstein + Norway included | EUR 0 extra | All Austrian operators | Calls to any EU number |
Source: Operator tariff pages + EU Regulation 2022/612, verified May 2026
Two practical rules. First, if you call a non-EU destination for more than 20 minutes a month, a bundle or add-on is almost always cheaper than PAYG. Second, if you only call one country, the add-on path (ay yildiz for Turkey, HoT World Pack for the Balkans) usually beats a dedicated multi-destination MVNO because the base tariff is cheaper.
What's the cheapest add-on bundle for calling Turkey?
ay yildiz · Lyca · HoT World Pack · A1 International
ay yildiz's Türkei-Paket at EUR 4.90/month for 1,000 minutes is the cheapest. The bundle covers Turkish landlines and all three Turkish mobile networks (Turkcell, Vodafone TR, Türk Telekom). At EUR 0.0049/minute effective it undercuts every other Austrian option by a factor of 10. ay yildiz exists precisely for this market — Magenta launched it for the ~300,000 Austrian residents with Turkish roots.
| Add-on / Plan | Base tariff | Add-on cost | Turkey min. | Eff. rate | All-in |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ay yildiz Türkei-Paket | Yildiz S EUR 9.99 | EUR 4.90 | 1,000 | EUR 0.005/min | EUR 14.89 |
| Lyca National Plus | incl. | incl. | 500 (pooled) | EUR 0.02/min | EUR 9.90 |
| HoT World Pack | Fix M EUR 9.90 | EUR 5.00 | 200 (pooled) | EUR 0.075/min | EUR 14.90 |
| A1 International 300 | Free M EUR 24.90 | EUR 9.00 | 300 (pooled) | EUR 0.11/min | EUR 33.90 |
| A1 / Drei PAYG | — | — | PAYG | EUR 0.49–0.99/min | Variable |
Source: ay yildiz, Lyca Mobile Austria, HoT, A1 published tariffs, verified May 2026. "Pooled" means the bundle covers other destinations too.
Lyca's EUR 9.90 all-in beats ay yildiz on raw cost — but the 500 minutes are pooled across 20+ destinations, so heavy Turkey calling burns the allowance fast. If more than half your calls go to Turkey, ay yildiz wins. If you split calls between Turkey and the Balkans, Lyca wins.
Should you use WhatsApp or FaceTime instead?
Free VoIP · App dependency · Elderly relatives · Landlines
If everyone you want to reach already uses WhatsApp, FaceTime Audio, Signal or Telegram, you do not need an international calling SIM. VoIP routes voice over your data allowance at no per-minute cost. The catch is two-sided. Elderly relatives on landlines, business numbers, hospitals, government offices and rural areas with weak 4G coverage cannot be reached via VoIP. For those calls, a SIM with bundled minutes is still the only reliable option.
WhatsApp penetration is high but uneven across the destinations this guide covers. Statista's 2025 messenger survey put WhatsApp at ~90% penetration in Turkey, India and Brazil, but only ~55% in Nigeria and under 40% in mainland China (where WeChat dominates and WhatsApp is intermittently blocked). For diaspora calling to China, a SIM with bundled minutes is effectively mandatory — that's why A1's International 300 ranks where it does.
- Use VoIP if: you call adult relatives who own smartphones, you have decent home wifi or 5G, your calls are personal (not business or service).
- Use a SIM bundle if: you regularly call landlines, hospitals, banks or government offices in the destination country, you call elderly parents who don't use apps, you call China, Cuba, or other countries where WhatsApp/FaceTime are restricted.
- Use both: most diaspora households in Austria pair a cheap base SIM (HoT, spusu) for VoIP-heavy daily use with an ay yildiz, Lyca or Lebara family number for landline and elder calls.
How do you activate an international calling add-on?
Five steps · Mein-Bereich apps · SMS shortcodes · No call to support needed
Every Austrian operator lets you activate an international calling add-on in under five minutes via the operator's app or SMS shortcode. No support call, no store visit. The steps below cover the four most-used add-ons: ay yildiz Türkei-Paket, Lyca International, HoT World Pack and A1 International 300.
- Confirm your base tariff is compatible. ay yildiz Türkei-Paket requires a Yildiz tariff. HoT World Pack runs on any HoT prepaid or Fix plan. A1 add-ons require a Free M/L contract. Lebara/Lyca bundles are built into the tariff — no separate activation needed. (check via the operator's mobile app or your customer portal)
- Top up enough credit to cover the add-on. Prepaid SIMs deduct the add-on price on activation. Make sure your balance is at least EUR 5 above the add-on cost; HoT and Lyca will refuse activation if the balance is too low. (post-paid contracts bill the add-on on your next invoice)
- Activate via the operator app. Open Mein ay yildiz / Mein HoT / Mein A1, tap "Pakete" or "Optionen", select the international add-on, confirm. Activation is normally instant. Alternatively, send the SMS shortcode — e.g. "TUERKEI" to 81212 for ay yildiz, "WORLD" to 8533 for HoT. (verify the current shortcode on the operator website — codes change)
- Wait for the confirmation SMS. You'll receive a confirmation SMS within 1–2 minutes. The add-on is then live; minutes reset on the first day of each billing month.
- Make the call using the destination number's full international format. Dial +90 for Turkey, +381 for Serbia, +387 for Bosnia, +91 for India, +234 for Nigeria. Add-on minutes only apply to calls dialled in international format — not to short codes or Austria-prefix routing.
What's the catch with international calling on Austrian SIMs?
Fair-use limits · Landline vs mobile · Excluded destinations · Auto-renew
Four gotchas catch new buyers. First, landline and mobile destinations are priced differently — bundles often cover landlines only or specific mobile networks. Second, fair-use caps apply. Third, several countries are excluded from "all destinations" bundles (premium-rate routes in particular). Fourth, almost every add-on auto-renews monthly.
- Landline vs mobile split. Lebara's EUR 0.02/min India rate covers landlines only. Indian mobile destinations are EUR 0.05/min. Always check the operator's per-destination rate card — the headline rate usually quotes the landline price.
- Fair-use clauses. Lyca caps bundle minutes at 3,000/month on combined Austrian + international use. HoT World Pack has a 200-minute hard cap (no overage charge but the bundle stops working). A1 International 300 strictly cuts at 300 minutes, then defaults to PAYG.
- Excluded destinations. Premium-rate satellite, maritime numbers, and politically sanctioned destinations (Russia, Belarus, North Korea, Syria, Iran) are excluded from every bundle. Russia calls in particular were re-priced upward across all Austrian operators in 2024 following EU Council sanctions packages — expect EUR 0.99–1.50/min PAYG only.
- Auto-renewal. Add-on packs renew unless you cancel. ay yildiz, HoT and Lyca all auto-charge until you SMS STOP or cancel via the app.
- RTR registration. All Austrian prepaid SIMs — including HoT, Lyca, Lebara, ay yildiz — require photo ID at activation since the 2019 RTR rule. Bring your passport or EU national ID.
How did we rank these Austrian SIMs?
Five-dimension scoring · operator-verified data · affiliate-independent
All six operators were ranked on five equally weighted dimensions: destination breadth, included minutes per euro, landline vs mobile coverage, contract flexibility and ID/registration friction. Pricing was pulled from each operator's public tariff page in May 2026 and cross-checked against RTR's published consumer-pricing benchmarks.
1. Destination breadth
Number of non-EU countries covered by the bundle or add-on.
2. Minutes per euro
Effective per-minute price within the bundle's primary destination.
3. Landline vs mobile
Coverage of both landline and mobile destinations at bundle rates.
4. Contract flexibility
Prepaid no-contract preferred over 12 or 24-month contracts.
5. Registration friction
All Austrian SIMs require ID under RTR rules, but activation flows vary.
Affiliate disclosure
SimCompare365 may earn a commission on confirmed sign-ups. Rankings are independent — see disclosure.
Frequently Asked Questions
Which Austrian SIM is cheapest for calls to Turkey? expand_more
ay yildiz on Magenta. The Türkei-Paket add-on (EUR 4.90/month) on top of the Yildiz S base tariff (EUR 9.99/month) delivers 1,000 minutes to Turkish landlines and all three Turkish mobile networks. Effective rate: EUR 0.005/minute. Lyca Mobile Austria is the runner-up at EUR 9.90/month for 500 pooled minutes across Turkey + Balkans. A1's per-minute PAYG rate to Turkey is EUR 0.49/min — only worthwhile for very occasional callers.
Which Austrian SIM is best for calling Western Balkans? expand_more
Lyca Mobile Austria's National Plus at EUR 9.90/month. The 500-minute international bundle covers Serbia, Bosnia, Kosovo, North Macedonia, Albania and Montenegro (Croatia and Slovenia are EU and already free under RLAH). HoT World Pack is the runner-up at EUR 5/month for 200 pooled minutes. For ex-YU diaspora households calling weekly, Lyca is the clear winner; the EUR 9.90 all-in beats every alternative.
Do EU 'Roam Like at Home' rules cover international calling? expand_more
Partly. RLAH means calls and SMS from your Austrian SIM to any number in another EU/EEA country are included at no extra cost on every retail plan, under EU Regulation 2022/612. That covers Croatia, Romania, Bulgaria, Slovenia, Czechia, Hungary — all free. RLAH does not cover calls to non-EU countries (Turkey, Serbia, Bosnia, UK, Switzerland). For those, you need a bundle, add-on, or PAYG. Calls from Austria to Switzerland are international even though both are in continental Europe.
Can I use WhatsApp or Signal to call abroad for free instead? expand_more
Yes — if the person you're calling uses the same app. WhatsApp, Signal, FaceTime Audio and Telegram all route voice over your data allowance at no per-minute cost. The catch: it doesn't work for landlines, business numbers, hospitals, banks, or relatives who don't use apps. For China specifically, WhatsApp is intermittently blocked — a bundle with included China minutes (A1 International 300) is the only reliable option.
Are landline and mobile international rates the same? expand_more
No. Most operators charge more for mobile destinations than landlines, especially in South Asia and Africa. Lebara Austria's EUR 0.02/min India rate covers landlines — Indian mobile destinations cost EUR 0.05/min. ay yildiz's Türkei-Paket is the rare exception — it includes both Turkish landlines and all three mobile networks in the same 1,000-minute pool. Always check the operator's per-destination rate card before signing up.
Do I need ID to buy these prepaid SIMs in Austria? expand_more
Yes. Since 2019 every Austrian SIM (prepaid or contract) requires photo ID at activation under an RTR rule introduced to combat anonymous SIM use. Acceptable IDs are a passport, Austrian Personalausweis, or an EU national ID card. Activation cards sold at Tabak-Trafik, Hofer or BILLA only become usable once you register the SIM online or in-app with your ID. Non-EU residents need a passport plus their Meldezettel (residence registration) to complete activation.
Can I still call Russia and Ukraine from Austria in 2026? expand_more
Yes for both, but pricing has shifted. Ukraine is covered by HoT World Pack and A1 International 300 at standard bundle rates. Russia was excluded from most bundle add-ons in 2024 following EU Council sanctions packages affecting telecoms cooperation — you can still call PAYG, but rates start at EUR 0.99/min on A1, EUR 1.20/min on Drei. No Austrian operator currently offers a Russia bundle. WhatsApp and Telegram remain the practical free alternatives for routine personal calls.