Swisscom’s local loop will be unbundled on April 1, when the new Swiss telecom law comes into effect. In the run-up to the development, the telco has announced that the price it charges competitors Sunrise (TDC Switzerland) and Tele2 will increase to CHF33.40 (€20.65) a month per subscriber. It currently charges CHF25.25 a month, both to its competitors and subscribers themselves, while the European average is €10.80. Sunrise has labelled the new rate as unrealistic.
The new law only opens up Swisscom’s existing copper network, with its new fibre/VDSL network explicitly excluded from any regulated competition. Swisscom said in a statement that it invests between CHF500 million and CHF700 million, annually, on the fixed network, “a three figure million amount of which has gone on VDSL technology”.
Swisscom is aiming to have Internet offer, with speeds of up to 30Mpbs, available to 50% of Swiss households by the end of this year.
Swisscom has also secured debt financing of over CHF8.1billion for the acquisition of Fastweb. Last week it announced a €47 per share, €3.7 billion offer for the Italian broadband operator that will be valid from the first half of April until mid-May.
Swisscom already owns a 1.74% stake in Fastweb, and Silvio Scaglia, the latter’s founder, has agreed to sell his 18.7% interest to the telco providing he doesn’t receive a higher public bid for his shares.