The reason for the recent mishap was “multiple human error”, as Swisscom reports. Since 2015, the company has also cut 2,500 jobs.
—-
keystone
—
8.8
To ensure that the blue light organizations are always ready for future breakdowns, individual cantons are already considering alternatives to becoming dependent on Swisscom.
—-
—-
Delays, wobbly trains, defective doors – in recent years, SBB has reliably made negative headlines. Another state-owned company is now in the spotlight: Swisscom under CEO Urs Schaeppi. The recent network failure in large parts of Switzerland is the culmination of a series of breakdowns that Swisscom plunged into a crisis.
–
The blue giant wants to be a pioneer in the highly competitive telecommunications market. Swisscom insists vehemently: “The best network in Switzerland”. But is that still true? “Unfortunately, nothing is said about network security and the connection,” explains Ralf Beyeler, telecom expert at the online comparison service Moneyland. “Swisscom has recently shown that it is very susceptible to breakdowns.” The company hardly lives up to its own slogan. “It no longer has its core business under control.”
–
Swisscom sent emails to the wrong recipients in March 2019. In June, the company deleted photos, videos and other data from hundreds of users of the MyCloud storage service. A month ago, a nationwide breakdown led to the failure of the emergency numbers. What was repeated in the night to last Wednesday: After maintenance work, large parts of the Swisscom network failed. The emergency calls were again affected. Numbers 112, 117, 118, 144 and 147 were partially unavailable, as was Alertswiss, the federal alarm app.
–
It all started with a test
Swisscom is under stress. “The reason for this is the sunrise shock of 2016,” says Ralf Beyeler. At that time, market leader Swisscom only came in second place in the highly regarded test of the specialist magazine “Connect” – behind the competitor Sunrise. “That put Swisscom under enormous pressure,” says Beyeler. “Since then, the group has been trying with all means to maintain its 60 percent market share.”
–
The competition is fierce, prices are falling, the core business is tough. That is why Swisscom is expanding its IT and TVbusiness, investing in future markets such as cloud services and 5G, and operating payment transactions by banks. This saves on staff. Swisscom has cut 2,500 jobs since 2015. In view of the last glitches, the question arises: Was saving in the right place? The technology was innocent of the Switzerland-wide network failure. “The disruption is due to multiple human error,” confirms Swisscom spokesman Sepp Huber.
–
The National and State Council telecommunications commissions are now taking action. SVP National Councilor Sandra Sollberger will submit a move on Monday to find out: «How can further breakdowns be prevented? What are the risks for blue light organizations, banks and the population as a result of the Swisscom breakdown series? »
–
National Council wonders
And SP National Councilor Matthias Aebischer wants to know: “How is it possible that all human back-ups are overridden due to human misconduct?” The Federal Office of Communications Bakom is also investigating the incidents. Uvek head Simonetta Sommaruga will meet Swisscom CEO Urs Schaeppi next week. Spokeswoman Annetta Bundi: “The Uvek expects Swisscom to be able to guarantee a quality basic service at all times.”
–
The first cantons are now doubting this. You are looking for ways of catching up in the event of another Swisscom breakdown. As “Der Bote” reports, the canton of Schwyz makes the Internet-independent Polycom radio system with which the blue light organizations work accessible to the public and installs it at various emergency meeting points. Clarifications are also underway in Graubünden, as media spokesman Roman Rüegg confirms: “The Schwyzer model is also an option for us.”
–
The cantons of St. Gallen and Aargau have long since installed a diversion: their systems will switch to Sunrise if Swisscom fails. However, this method is technically uncertain. “There is nothing to gloss over,” says Bernhard Graser, media spokesman for the Aargau cantonal police. “It could have ended badly.”