Breakdown at Swisscom, Friborg and Vaud affected

A breakdown at Swisscom affected Wednesday since 10:20 am the south of Friborg and also the Pays-d’Enhaut (VD). The Internet, Swisscom TV as well as mobile and fixed telephony are affected. A return to normal is scheduled for Thursday morning.

“There is currently a breakdown in the regions of Bulle (FR), Rougemont (VD), Charmey (FR) and Château-d’Oex (VD). Several copper and fiber optic cables were damaged during construction work. construction in Bulle, “a Swisscom spokesperson told Keystone-ATS news agency.

Several thousand people are affected by this disruption, she adds. Customers can follow the progress of the fault at www.swisscom.com/status. Specialists are on site to remedy this failure.

Large emergency resources were deployed on site with the presence of firefighters, civil protection (PCI) and the gendarmerie, said for its part the Vaud cantonal police.

Mobile alarm groups and gendarmerie patrols will circulate throughout the night in the areas concerned. For any problem or emergency, the population is urged to contact the uniformed people of these different services.

Commune and gendarmerie offices will also be available to the population according to the following hours: Rougement Commune House: 24 hours a day. Rossinière commune house: 24 hours a day. Chateau-d’Oex gendarmerie station : this day from 11 p.m. until further notice.

In mid-March, Swisscom indicated that it did not rule out occasional overloads due to the high use of its services during this period of coronavirus. Wednesday’s disruption, however, has nothing to do with the virus, the operator said.

In January / February, three operator failures occurred within a few weeks. The first two had notably paralyzed emergency numbers. This prompted the Federal Office of Communications to take action and announced a thorough investigation.

Swisscom is required by law to guarantee access to emergency services. A parliamentary committee also called for accounts.