The court stops Swisscom from expanding the fiber optic network
The decision of the Federal Administrative Court sends out a signal: Consumers across Switzerland can hope for faster internet speeds.
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–Swisscom is driving the expansion of the fiber optic network, here in a residential area of Bellinzona.
Photo: Carlo Reguzzi (Keystone)
Swisscom suffers a setback before the Federal Administrative Court in St. Gallen: the judges have decided that the state-affiliated company must grant its competitors access to an independent fiber optic. That goes out a recent judgmentwhich was released on Tuesday evening.
The court thus confirms the precautionary measure, which the Competition Commission had imposed on Swisscom in December 2020. At that time, the competition authorities forbade the company with immediate effect from making direct access to the fiber optic cables difficult for competitors. On the other hand, the largest Swiss telecommunications provider appealed to the Federal Administrative Court.
The first instance ruling means that Swisscom has to change its new, controversial practice in expanding the fiber optic infrastructure. National as well as regional and local telecom operators, in turn, have unhindered access to Swisscom’s fiber optic network.
This should primarily benefit consumers who live in poorly developed regions such as agglomerations or rural areas. The users can count on higher speeds with the Internet connections.
The origin of the conflict goes back years: between 2008 and 2012, the telecommunications providers and the responsible federal authorities agreed at a round table that all households should be connected with four optical fibers when the new fiber-optic network is set up. This should ensure that each operator receives a separate line. Swisscom was in charge of building the fast infrastructure.
According to the competition commission, however, Swisscom no longer adheres to the agreement of the past. The blue giant is said to have changed the structure of the network in areas that it is expanding on its own in such a way that competitors no longer have unrestricted access to the network infrastructure.
For example, competitors can no longer control the lines independently and can only offer speeds of no more than 10 gigabits per second. However, 100 gigabits per second are possible. Swisscom competitors such as Init7 from Winterthur had drawn the competition authorities’ attention to these grievances and got the ball rolling.
Court: Swisscom not credible
The Federal Administrative Court is now supporting the Competition Commission in its current judgment. Swisscom has not been able to demonstrate that there are sufficient technological or economic reasons to deviate from the specified standard with four optical fibers per household.
Rather, the court is currently assuming that Swisscom is showing abusive behavior by a dominant company through its new practice. Specifically, Swisscom is restricting technological development, which is a violation of the antitrust law.
The judges were not impressed by the fact that Swisscom signed a fiber optic pact with the mobile operator Salt in the spring. Salt receives direct access.
Swisscom is reviewing the move to the Federal Supreme Court
Swisscom is examining whether it will pass the judgment on to the Federal Supreme Court in Lausanne. In a statement, the company described the precautionary measures as “wrong”.
Swisscom boss Urs Schaeppi said the new construction method has established itself internationally and has proven itself: “In the worst case scenario, network expansion threatens to be delayed for years. The competition now plays out at all levels, and numerous cooperation partners are participating in investments in the billions in the expansion. “
Jon Mettler has been a business editor at the central editorial office of Tamedia since 2018. He reports on telecommunications, digitization, tourism and the watch industry. He has won several journalism awards, including the subsidiary media award from the Swiss Bar Association, the European Newspaper Award and the Bedag media award.
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