Swisscom lands CHF18 million fine in fibre-optic cable dispute

Cables that are in breach of antitrust law and have already been put into operation must be converted by the end of December 2025 at the latest, otherwise they will have to be switched off. Keystone / Gaetan Bally

The Swiss Federal Competition Commission (COMCO) has fined Swisscom CHF18 million ($19.7 million) in an antitrust dispute related to access to its fibre-optic cable network.

In December 2020, the competition authorities took preliminary steps to halt Swisscom’s fibre-optic expansion, which it said breached anti-cartel laws due to the use of single-mode cables rather than multi-modal ones.

According to COMCO, multi-modal cables are the only way to ensure that Swisscom’s rivals can also offer customers their internet services, and, for example, offer higher surfing speeds.

In addition, every household should receive a direct line to the telephone exchange and not have to share the line with its neighbours, the authority says.

+ Fibre-optic fight: court setback for Swisscom

However, this construction method is more expensive than simply laying a supply line from the telephone exchange to the street – an option chosen by Swisscom for cost reasons.

2025 deadline

Single-mode cables which are in breach of antitrust law and have already been put into operation must be converted by the end of December 2025 at the latest – otherwise they will have to be switched off, COMCO also ruled on Thursday.

According to German consulting firm WIK-Consult, the additional costs for the expansion with direct lines to households will amount to between CHF600 million and CHF800 million ($657 million and $876 million). Estimated total costs for the remaining expansion of the fibre-optic network are around CHF8 billion.

Swisscom estimates the additional costs to be much higher, said COMCO director Patrik Ducrey in an interview with news agency AWP. However, he was not permitted to disclose any figures, and Swisscom did not wish to quantify the additional costs when asked.

COMCO: Swisscom itself to blame  

Yet Swisscom is itself to blame for the additional costs, said Ducrey. The telecoms firm continued to build fibre-optic networks with single-mode cables until October 2022, even though COMCO had warned in February 2020 that this type of expansion was problematic.  

The expansion continued even after Swisscom failed in its appeal at the Federal Administrative Court against interim antitrust measures ordered by COMCO.

Swisscom complained that the change in construction method was leading to a delay in the expansion of the fibre-optic network. As a result, it said that by 2025, around 3% fewer connections will be built than planned, and by 2030 the figure will be around 10% lower.  

However, COMCO concluded that the resulting disadvantages for competition, consumers and business customers over generations outweighed the additional costs for Swisscom and the short delay. 

Adapted from German by DeepL/kp,dos 

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