2023-08-02 11:14:57
Fiber optic dispute between Swisscom and Weko might end soon
The expansion of ultra-fast data lines has been on hold since December 2020. A final decision by the competition authorities should be available by the end of the year.
Weko insists on an expansion with a supply line for every household. This is the only way that Swisscom’s competitors can make their own Internet offerings that differ from those of Swisscom.
Photo: Carlo Reguzzi (Keystone)
Swisscom’s fiber optic dispute with the Federal Competition Commission Weko is reaching the home straight. The competition guardians have now sent the application for their disposal to the telecom group.
The group now has until around mid-September to comment, said Weko director Patrik Ducrey on Wednesday at the request of the AWP news agency. Even if Swisscom were to apply for an extension of the deadline, ComCo might probably make a definitive decision this year. However, that also depends on the amendments submitted by Swisscom.
Weko stops Swisscom expansion
The process has been taking a long time: in December 2020, the competition authorities stopped Swisscom’s fiber optic expansion with precautionary measures. Because the cartel watchdogs consider the network architecture changed by Swisscom with only one feed line from the telephone switchboard to the street manhole to be anti-competitive. Weko insists on an expansion with a supply line for every household.
This is the only way that Swisscom’s competitors can offer customers their own Internet offerings that differ from those of Swisscom and, for example, offer higher surfing speeds than the “Blue Giant”. In addition, every household has a direct line to the telephone switchboard and does not have to share the supply line with the neighbours.
However, this construction is more expensive than just laying a supply line from the telephone switchboard to the street shaft in front of the houses. For cost reasons, Swisscom chose the cheaper option and stuck to it for a long time despite the veto of the competition authorities. However, the objections by the industry leader once morest the precautionary measures taken by ComCo failed right up to the Federal Supreme Court.
Swisscom gives in
Last October, Swisscom made a U-turn in the fiber optics dispute with the Federal Competition Commission (Comco). Because the pressure from hundreds of thousands of blocked connections that are not allowed to be put into operation became too great. The group is once more building direct lines from the telephone exchange to the households.
At the end of March 2023, a total of around 500,000 fiber optic connections, which only have one feed line for several households, were blocked. That is 9 percent of all households. Swisscom now wants to rebuild some of these blocked connections. In total, 43 percent of households in Switzerland are connected to the ultra-fast data lines. According to Swisscom, 100 percent would be 5.45 million connections.
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