He justified the problems with the “SonntagsBlick” among other things with the complexity of the network. «There will always be breakdowns. The causes are different, but the interventions in the networks are common, »said the 60-year-old manager. These interventions are imperative because the data volume is growing “extremely” and the requirements are increasing daily, for example with regard to security.
The interventions could be compared to “changing a wheel at full speed,” said the telecom boss. “We have to intervene in the networks permanently while operations are running.” Each of these around 4,000 interventions per week is a risk. “Now we have to see that we don’t overload the feeder.”
In the latest breakdown on Tuesday, calls via mobile radio and, in some cases, calls to business numbers at Swisscom nationwide were down for hours. According to Schaeppi, however, emergency calls, the Internet and the Whatsapp news service worked, among other things. The blue light organizations had confirmed that there were no failures. “We didn’t violate the basic supply contract.”
Swisscom cited renewal work in the mobile radio system as the reason for the recent breakdown. According to the company, an “unexpected software behavior” of network components led to an overload. «We tested very extensively. In this case, an error occurred that could not be discovered during testing, »said Schaeppi. You cannot fully test live situations, you can only see the totality of the effects under full load.
«Society must learn»
It was the fourth major breakdown in the Swisscom network in the current year. In January and February alone there had been three interruptions within a few weeks. In the first two cases, the emergency numbers were no longer available. Swisscom cited hardware errors or human error as reasons for the breakdowns.
Swisscom customers must continue to expect failures. Whoever badges Swisscom in such cases ultimately aims at avoiding reality, because the quality is “very good,” said Schaeppi. “Our society has to learn that our communication systems can do more and more, but failures cannot be ruled out.” Swisscom must make sure that mistakes happen as little as possible and that the effects are minimal.
According to the CEO, a task force was set up at Swisscom after the last breakdown, which should only deal with the issue of network stability. The Federal Office of Communications (Bakom) is also investigating the breakdown series and plans to take action later if necessary. The responsible National Council commission wants to hear the Swisscom leadership at the end of June.
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