Switzerland - Telecoms, Mobile and Broadband

Switzerland has one of the highest broadband penetration rates within Europe, with a focus on services of at least 1Gb/s. This has been supported by sympathetic regulatory measures as well as by cooperative agreements between the main telcos Swisscom, Swiss Net Fibre, and Sunrise UPC, and with local utilities. Fast fibre is complemented by 5G services reaching about 97% of the population by early 2021. Together, these networks will soon enable the telcos to provide ultra-fast broadband services nationally, ahead of most other countries in the region.

The competitive mobile market is served by three network operators and a small number of MVNOs. Liberty Global acquired the MNO Sunrise in November 2020 and merged the business with its own unit UPC Switzerland, creating Sunrise UPC to contend effectively against Swisscom across the sector. 5G services offered by the MNOs offer data rates of up to 2Gb/s, and although various cantons have called a halt to extensions of 5G, citing health concerns, the regulator and environment ministry have put in place measures aimed at ensuring that network rollouts can continue without disruption.

With the migration of subscribers to LTE and 5G networks, the MNOs have been able to begin closing down their GSM networks and repurpose physical assets and spectrum.

Although not a member of the EU, the country's economic integration has meant that its telecom market deregulation has followed the EU's liberalisation framework, including the recent regulations on international voice roaming.

This report presents an analysis of Switzerland's fixed-line telecom market, including an assessment of network infrastructure. It examines the regulatory environment and evaluates the strategies and performance of service providers including Swisscom and Sunrise UPC. The report also assesses the mobile market, including new technologies and profiles of the main operators. In addition, the report reviews the fixed and fixed-wireless broadband segments and the migration to a fibre-abased infrastructure. Subscriber forecasts to 2024 are provided covering a range of services.

BuddeComm notes that the Covid-19 pandemic continues to have a significant impact on the telecoms market. On the consumer side, spending on telecoms services and devices is under pressure from the financial effect of large-scale job losses and the consequent restriction on disposable incomes. However, the crucial nature of telecom services, both for general communication as well as a tool for home-working, has offset such pressures. In many markets the net effect has been a reduced (and sometimes negative) subscriber growth, which will continue into 2021.

Overall progress towards 5G may be postponed or slowed down in some countries.

On the consumer side, spending on telecoms services and devices is under pressure from the financial effect of large-scale job losses and the consequent restriction on disposable incomes. However, the crucial nature of telecom services, both for general communication as well as a tool for home-working, will offset such pressures. In many markets the net effect should be a steady though reduced increased in subscriber growth.

Although it is challenging to predict and interpret the long-term impacts of the crisis as it develops, these have been acknowledged in the industry forecasts contained in this report.

The report also covers the responses of the telecom operators as well as government agencies and regulators as they react to the crisis to ensure that citizens can continue to make optimum use of telecom services. This can be reflected in subsidy schemes and the promotion of tele-health and tele-education, among other solutions.

Key developments:

Regulator sets parameters on 5G masts to encourage rollout of network infrastructure;

Sunrise is merged with UPC Switzerland and rebrands as Sunrise UPC;

Swisscom again investigated for abusing its market dominance;

Salt extends the reach of its FttP footprint via a deal with Swiss Fiber Net;

Swisscom switches off its GSM network;

Regulatory measures eliminate FttP network duplication, increase minimum internet speed on Swisscom's USO;

Report update includes the regulator's market data for 2019, telcos' operating and financial data to Q1 2020, Telecom Maturity Index charts and analyses, assessment of the global impact of Covid-19 on the telecoms sector, recent market developments.

Companies mentioned in this report:

Swisscom, Salt (Orange Switzerland), Sunrise, UPC Switzerland, Swiss Digital, Liberty Global (Sunrise UPC).

Key statistics

Regional European Market Comparison

Europe Telecom Maturity Index by tier
- Market Leaders
- Market Challengers
- Market Emergents
TMI versus GDP
Mobile and mobile broadband penetration
Fixed versus mobile broadband penetration

Country overview

Covid-19 and its impact on the telecom sector

Economic considerations and responses
Subscribers
Infrastructure

Telecommunications market

Market analysis
Government ICT strategy

Regulatory environment

Historical overview
Regulatory authorities
Fixed-line developments
- Telecom sector liberalisation
- Telecommunications Act
- Privatisation
- Interconnect
- Leased lines
- Access
- Bitstream access
- Number Portability (NP)
- Carrier PreSelection (CPS)
- Universal Service Obligation (USO)
- European Electronic Communications Code
Fixed broadband developments
- Regulatory measures
- Network sharing
- Network Neutrality
Mobile network developments
- Spectrum regulations
- Digital dividend spectrum
- Spectrum auction - 2012
- Spectrum auction - 2019
- Mobile Number Portability (MNP)
- Mobile Termination Rate (MTR)
- Roaming

Mobile market

Market analysis
Mobile statistics
Mobile infrastructure
- 5G
- 4G (LTE)
- 3G
- GSM
- Other infrastructure developments
Mobile voice
Mobile data
- SMS and MMS
Mobile broadband
Major mobile operators
- Swisscom Mobile
- Sunrise UPC
- Salt Mobile
- Mobile Virtual Network Operators (MVNOs)
- Mobile Virtual Network Enablers (MVNEs)
Mobile content and applications
- m-Music
- Location-based services
- m-ticketing
- m-commerce
- Train network

Fixed-line broadband market

Introduction and statistical overview
Market analysis
Broadband statistics
Fixed-line broadband technologies
- Hybrid Fibre Coax (HFC) networks
- Digital Subscriber Line (DSL) networks
- Fibre-to-the-Premises (FttP) networks
- Other fixed broadband services
- Fixed wireless

Fixed network operators

Overview of the national telecom network
Swisscom
Sunrise - Historic
Sunrise UPC
Swiss Digital

Telecommunications infrastructure

Overview of the national telecom network
LoRa network
IoT
VoIP
Smart infrastructure
- Smart cities

Digital economy

e-government
e-economy
e-health

Appendix - Historic data

Glossary of abbreviations

Related reports

List of Tables

Table 1 - Top Level Country Statistics and Telco Authorities - Switzerland - 2021 (e)
Table 2 - Development of telecom market revenue, profit and investment (CHF billion) - 2011 - 2019
Table 3 - Change in telecom market revenue by sector (CHF billion) - 2011 - 2019
Table 4 - Development of telecom investment by sector (CHF million) - 2011 - 2019
Table 5 - Change in interconnection revenue - 2011 - 2019
Table 6 - Growth in the number of fully unbundled lines - 2011 - 2021
Table 7 - Growth in the number of bitstream access lines - 2014 - 2018
Table 8 - Decline in the number of Call by Call and CPS lines - 2011 - 2019
Table 9 - Change in the number of mobile numbers ported and proportion to total - 2009 - 2019
Table 10 - Development of mobile roaming traffic by service - 2013 - 2018
Table 11 - Development of mobile roaming revenue by service (CHF million) - 2013 - 2018
Table 12 - Growth in the number of mobile subscribers and penetration - 2011 - 2026
Table 13 - Change in mobile market revenue - 2011 - 2019
Table 14 - Change in mobile sector investment (3G and total) (CHF million) - 2009 - 2019
Table 15 - Change in the market share of mobile subscribers by MNO - 2011 - 2019
Table 16 - Decline in the number of prepaid subscribers and market share - 2011 - 2019
Table 17 - Fall in the proportion of Swisscom Mobile's prepaid subscribers to total - 2011 - 2021
Table 18 - Development of geographic coverage by mobile technology - 2010 - 2020
Table 19 - Change in the number of 3G mobile subscribers - 2011 - 2017
Table 20 - Growth in the number of M2M connections - 2014 - 2018
Table 21 - Change in mobile voice traffic (million calls) - 2013 - 2019
Table 22 - Change in mobile voice traffic (million minutes) - 2013 - 2019
Table 23 - Decline in SMS traffic - 2011 - 2019
Table 24 - Decline in MMS traffic - 2011 - 2019
Table 25 - Mobile internet subscribers by technology - 2009 - 2019
Table 26 - Growth in the number of active mobile broadband subscribers and penetration - 2011 - 2026
Table 27 - Growth in mobile data traffic - 2011 - 2021
Table 28 - Decline in Swisscom Mobile blended ARPU - 2011 - 2021
Table 29 - Decline in Swisscom Mobile's retail mobile revenue - 2009 - 2021
Table 30 - Change in Swisscom Mobile's subscribers by type (million) - 2011 - 2021
Table 31 - Change in the number of UPC Switzerland's mobile subscribers (thousand) - 2009 - 2019
Table 32 - Development of Sunrise's mobile revenue (CHF) - 2009 - 2020
Table 33 - Development of Sunrise's mobile revenue by quarter (CHF) - 2012 - 2020
Table 34 - Decline in Sunrise's mobile ARPU - 2011 - 2020
Table 35 - Development of Salt Mobile's financial data (CHF million) - 2010 - 2020
Table 36 - Change in the number of Salt Mobile's mobile subscribers - 2009 - 2020
Table 37 - Growth in the number of UPC Switzerland's mobile subscribers - 2014 - 2019
Table 38 - Decline in the number of dial-up internet subscribers - 2011 - 2019
Table 39 - Growth in the number of fixed-line broadband subscribers and penetration - 2011 - 2026
Table 40 - Change in the number of fixed broadband subscribers by platform (thousand) - 2011 - 2019
Table 41 - Change in fixed-line broadband market share by platform - 2011 - 2019
Table 42 - Fixed-line broadband market share by operator - 2011 - 2019
Table 43 - Development of fixed-line broadband penetration by platform - 2011 - 2020
Table 44 - Change in the number of fixed broadband connections by rate - 2011 - 2019
Table 45 - Change in the proportion of broadband connections by rate - 2011 - 2019
Table 46 - Change in the number of cable broadband subscribers - 2011 - 2019
Table 47 - Change in the number of Sunrise UPC's broadband subscribers - 2011 - 2021
Table 48 - Decline in the number of DSL accesses - 2011 - 2019
Table 49 - Growth in the number of Swisscom's fixed broadband subscribers (thousand) - 2011 - 2021
Table 50 - Growth in the number of Sunrise's fixed broadband subscribers - 2011 - 2020
Table 51 - Development of Sunrise's broadband and TV revenue - 2016 - 2020
Table 52 - Growth in the number of fibre subscribers - 2011 - 2019
Table 53 - Change in the number of satellite broadband and telephony subscribers - 2011 - 2018
Table 54 - Change in the market share of fixed-line subscribers by operator - 2011 - 2019
Table 55 - Development of fixed-network revenue - 2011 - 2019
Table 56 - Development of Swisscom Group's financial data (CHF billion) - 2009 - 2021
Table 57 - Development of Swisscom's domestic financial data by sector (CHF million) - 2011 - 2021
Table 58 - Change in the number of Swisscom's domestic fixed-voice, mobile, IPTV subscribers (thousand) - 2011 - 2021
Table 59 - Development of Sunrise's revenue by service (CHF million) - 2009 - 2020
Table 60 - Change in the number of Sunrise's subscribers by sector (thousand) - 2011 - 2020
Table 61 - Development of Sunrise UPC's financial data (€ million) - 2011 - 2021
Table 62 - Change in the number of Sunrise UPC's broadband and telephony subscribers - 2011 - 2021
Table 63 - Change in the number of Swiss Digital's subscribers by service - 2011 - 2019
Table 64 - Change in the number of fixed lines in service and teledensity - 2011 - 2026
Table 65 - Fixed access lines in service (PSTN or ISDN) - 2011 - 2019
Table 66 - Decline in fixed line traffic by type (billion minutes) - 2009 - 2018
Table 67 - Increase in the number of VoIP connections - 2011 - 2019
Table 68 - Historic - Telecom market revenue, profit and investment (CHF billion) - 1998 - 2010
Table 69 - Historic - Telecom market revenue by sector (CHF billion) - 1998 - 2010
Table 70 - Historic - Telecom investment by sector (CHF million) - 1998 - 2010
Table 71 - Historic - Interconnection revenue - 2000 - 2010
Table 72 - Historic - Call by Call and CPS lines - 1999 - 2010
Table 73 - Historic - Mobile numbers ported - 2000 - 2010
Table 74 - Historic - Mobile termination charges by operator (€ cents per minute) - 2006, 2009 - 2011
Table 75 - Historic - Mobile termination charges by operator (CFH per minute) - 2016 - 2019
Table 76 - Historic - Mobile subscribers and penetration rate - 1995; 1997; 1999 - 2010
Table 77 - Historic - Mobile market revenue - 2000 - 2010
Table 78 - Historic - Mobile sector investment, UMTS and total (CHF million) - 1998 - 2010
Table 79 - Historic - Share of subscribers by MNO - 2003 - 2010
Table 80 - Historic - Prepaid subscribers and market share - 1998 - 2010
Table 81 - Historic - Change in the number of 3G mobile subscribers - 2010 - 2017
Table 82 - Historic - Swisscom Mobile prepaid share of subscribers - 1998 - 2010
Table 83 - Historic - Swisscom Mobile SMS and MMS traffic - 2007 - 2014
Table 84 - Historic - SMS traffic - 2002 - 2010
Table 85 - Historic - MMS traffic - 2003 - 2010
Table 86 - Historic - Swisscom Mobile retail revenue - 2003 - 2010
Table 87 - Historic - Sunrise mobile subscribers - 2004 - 2010
Table 88 - Historic - Sunrise revenue and annual change (DKK) - 2006 - 2010
Table 89 - Historic - Salt mobile revenue, annual change - 2005 - 2011
Table 90 - Historic - Salt mobile subscribers - 2000 - 2010
Table 91 - Historic - Salt ARPU - 2006 - 2011
Table 92 - Historic - Salt mobile data as percentage of revenue - 2003 - 2011
Table 93 - Historic - Dial-up internet subscribers - 2000 - 2010
Table 94 - Historic - Internet users and penetration rate - 1996 - 2015
Table 95 - Historic - Fixed-line broadband subscribers and penetration - 2000 - 2010
Table 96 - Historic- Fixed-line broadband market share by platform - 2003 - 2010
Table 97 - Historic - DSL market share by operator - 2006 - 2016
Table 98 - Historic - DSL accesses - 2000 - 2010
Table 99 - Historic - Cable broadband subscribers - 2000 - 2010
Table 100 - Historic - Swiss Digital broadband and telephony subscribers - 2003 - 2010
Table 101 - Historic - UPC Switzerland financial data (€ million) - 2005 - 2010
Table 102 - Historic - DSL/fibre accesses by main provider - 2004 - 2016
Table 103 - Historic - DSL/fibre market share by main provider - 2004 - 2016
Table 104 - Historic - Swisscom broadband subscribers - 2003 - 2010
Table 105 - Historic - Fibre connections by type - 2003 - 2017
Table 106 - Historic - BPL broadband subscribers - 2008 - 2016
Table 107 - Historic - Wi-Fi hotspots in service - 2008 - 2016
Table 108 - Historic - Fixed-network revenue - 2000 - 2010
Table 109 - Historic - Swisscom Group net revenue, EBITDA and net income (CHF billion) - 2004 - 2010
Table 110 - Historic - Sunrise financial data (DKK million) - 2006 - 2010
Table 111 - Historic - Sunrise revenue by type (DKK million) - 2006 - 2010
Table 112 - Historic - Sunrise subscribers by sector - 2005 - 2010
Table 113 - Historic - Swiss Digital's subscribers by service - 2003 - 2010
Table 114 - Historic - Fixed lines in service and teledensity - 1997 - 2010
Table 115 - Historic - ISDN subscribers - 1999 - 2017
Table 116 - Historic - VoIP connections - 2004 - 2010
Table 117 - Historic - Growth in the number of active mobile broadband subscribers and penetration - 2009 - 2010
Table 118 - Historic - Growth in mobile data traffic - 2008 - 2010
Table 119 - Historic - Decline in Swisscom Mobile blended ARPU - 2006 - 2010
Table 120 - Historic - Change in Swisscom Mobile's subscribers by type (million) - 2006 - 2010
Table 121 - Historic - Change in the number of fixed broadband subscribers by platform (thousand) - 2000 - 2010
Table 122 - Historic - Fixed-line broadband market share by operator - 2008 - 2010
Table 123 - Historic - Development of fixed-line broadband penetration by platform - 2004 - 2010
Table 124 - Historic - Change in the number of fixed broadband connections by rate - 2008 - 2010
Table 125 - Historic - Change in the proportion of broadband connections by rate - 2008 - 2010
Table 126 - Historic - Change in the number of UPC Switzerland' broadband subscribers - 2007 - 2010
Table 127 - Historic - Growth in the number of Sunrise's fixed broadband subscribers - 2005 - 2010
Table 128 - Historic - Growth in the number of fibre subscribers - 2007 - 2010
Table 129 - Historic - Change in the number of satellite broadband and telephony subscribers - 1999 - 2010
Table 130 - Historic - Change in the market share of fixed-line subscribers by operator - 2007 - 2010
Table 131 - Historic - Development of Swisscom's domestic financial data by sector (CHF million) - 2007 - 2010
Table 132 - Historic - Change in the number of Swisscom's domestic fixed-voice, mobile, IPTV subscribers (thousand) - 2008 - 2010
Table 133 - Historic - Change in the number of UPC Switzerland' broadband and telephony subscribers - 2007 - 2010
Table 134 - Historic - Decline in fixed line traffic by type (billion minutes) - 1999 - 2010
Table 135 - Historic - Fixed access lines in service (PSTN or ISDN) - 1999 - 2010
Table 136 - Historic - Decline in the number of fixed numbers ported - 2009 - 2018
Table 137 - Historic - Change in MVNO's market share of mobile subscribers - 2007 - 2018
Table 138 - Historic - Change in the number of VDSL accesses - 2008 - 2019
Table 139 - Historic - Growth in the number of WiMAX broadband subscribers - 2012 - 2017
Table 140 - Historic - PSTN lines in service - 2007 - 2017

List of Charts

Chart 1 - Europe Telecoms Maturity Index - Market Leaders (top tier)
Chart 2 - Europe Telecoms Maturity Index - Market Challengers (middle tier)
Chart 3 - Europe Telecoms Maturity Index - Market Emergents (bottom tier)
Chart 4 - Overall view - Telecoms Maturity Index vs GDP per Capita
Chart 5 - Europe - mobile subscriber penetration vs mobile broadband penetration
Chart 6 - Scandinavia and Baltics - mobile subscriber penetration vs mobile broadband penetration
Chart 7 - Northern Europe - mobile subscriber penetration vs mobile broadband penetration
Chart 8 - Southern Europe mobile subscriber penetration vs mobile broadband penetration
Chart 9 - Eastern Europe mobile subscriber penetration vs mobile broadband penetration
Chart 10 - Scandinavia and Baltics fixed and mobile broadband penetration
Chart 11 - Northern Europe fixed and mobile broadband penetration
Chart 12 - Southern Europe fixed and mobile broadband penetration
Chart 13 - Eastern Europe fixed and mobile broadband penetration
Chart 14 - Development of telecom market revenue, profit and investment - 2011 - 2019
Chart 15 - Change in telecom market revenue by sector - 2011 - 2019
Chart 16 - Development of telecom investment by sector - 2011 - 2019
Chart 17 - Change in interconnection revenue - 2011 - 2019
Chart 18 - Growth in the number of fully unbundled lines - 2011 - 2021
Chart 19 - Decline in the number of Call by Call and CPS lines - 2011 - 2019
Chart 20 - Change in the number of mobile numbers ported and proportion to total - 2009 - 2019
Chart 21 - Development of mobile roaming revenue by service - 2013 - 2018
Chart 22 - Growth in the number of mobile subscribers and penetration - 2011 - 2026
Chart 23 - Change in mobile market revenue - 2011 - 2019
Chart 24 - Change in mobile sector investment (3G and total) - 2009 - 2019
Chart 25 - Change in the market share of mobile subscribers by MNO - 2011 - 2019
Chart 26 - Decline in the number of prepaid subscribers and market share - 2011 - 2019
Chart 27 - Fall in the proportion of Swisscom Mobile's prepaid subscribers to total - 2011 - 2021
Chart 28 - Development of geographic coverage by mobile technology - 2010 - 2020
Chart 29 - Change in the number of 3G mobile subscribers - 2011 - 2017
Chart 30 - Change in mobile voice traffic (million calls) - 2013 - 2019
Chart 31 - Change in mobile voice traffic (million minutes) - 2013 - 2019
Chart 32 - Change in SMS and MMS traffic - 2011 - 2019
Chart 33 - Growth in the number of active mobile broadband subscribers and penetration - 2011 - 2026
Chart 34 - Growth in mobile data traffic - 2011 - 2021
Chart 35 - Decline in Swisscom Mobile blended ARPU - 2011 - 2021
Chart 36 - Decline in Swisscom Mobile's retail mobile revenue - 2009 - 2021
Chart 37 - Change in Swisscom Mobile's subscribers by type - 2011 - 2021
Chart 38 - Change in the number of Sunrise UPC's mobile subscribers - 2009 - 2021
Chart 39 - Development of Sunrise's mobile revenue (CHF) - 2009 - 2020
Chart 40 - Decline in Sunrise's mobile ARPU - 2011 - 2020
Chart 41 - Development of Salt Mobile's financial data (CHF) - 2010 - 2020
Chart 42 - Change in the number of Salt Mobile's mobile subscribers - 2009 - 2020
Chart 43 - Decline in the number of dial-up internet subscribers - 2011 - 2019
Chart 44 - Growth in the number of fixed-line broadband subscribers and penetration - 2011 - 2026
Chart 45 - Change in the number of fixed broadband subscribers by platform - 2011 - 2019
Chart 46 - Change in fixed-line broadband market share by platform - 2011 - 2019
Chart 47 - Development of fixed-line broadband market share by operator - 2011 - 2019
Chart 48 - Change in the number of fixed broadband connections by rate - 2011 - 2019
Chart 49 - Change in the proportion of broadband connections by rate - 2011 - 2019
Chart 50 - Change in the number of cable broadband subscribers - 2011 - 2019
Chart 51 - Growth in the number of Swisscom's fixed broadband subscribers - 2011 - 2021
Chart 52 - Growth in the number of Sunrise's fixed broadband subscribers - 2011 - 2020
Chart 53 - Change in the market share of fixed-line subscribers by operator - 2011 - 2019
Chart 54 - Development of fixed-network revenue - 2011 - 2019
Chart 55 - Development of Swisscom Group's financial data - 2009 - 2021
Chart 56 - Development of Swisscom's domestic financial data by sector - 2011 - 2021
Chart 57 - Change in the number of Swisscom's domestic fixed-voice, mobile, IPTV subscribers - 2011 - 2021
Chart 58 - Development of Sunrise's revenue by service (CHF) - 2009 - 2020
Chart 59 - Change in the number of Sunrise's subscribers by sector - 2011 - 2020
Chart 60 - Development of Sunrise UPC's financial data - 2011 - 2021
Chart 61 - Change in the number of Sunrise UPC's broadband and telephony subscribers - 2011 - 2021
Chart 62 - Change in the number of Swiss Digital's subscribers by service - 2011 - 2019
Chart 63 - Change in the number of fixed lines in service and teledensity - 2011 - 2026
Chart 64 - Decline in fixed line traffic by type - 2011 - 2018
Chart 65 - Increase in the number of VoIP connections - 2011 - 2019

List of Exhibits

Exhibit 1 - Generalised Market Characteristics by Market Segment
Exhibit 2 - Access and the local loop
Exhibit 3 - Mobile spectrum auction results - 2012
Exhibit 4 - Mobile spectrum auction results - 2019
Exhibit 5 - Decline in the MTR (CHF / minute) - 2016 - 2019

Switzerland - Telecoms, Mobile and Broadband - Statistics and Analyses

Description

Table of Contents

List of Tables

Switzerland emerges as a European leader for 1Gb/s fibre broadband

Key developments:

Companies mentioned in this report:

Table of Contents

Key statistics

Regional European Market Comparison

Country overview

Covid-19 and its impact on the telecom sector

Telecommunications market

Regulatory environment

Mobile market

Fixed-line broadband market

Fixed network operators

Telecommunications infrastructure

Digital economy

Appendix - Historic data

Glossary of abbreviations

Related reports

List of Tables

List of Charts

List of Exhibits