Information Technology in  Switzerland

Due in large part to its size, Switzerland's telecommunications infrastructure is characterized as dense.  Telephones, radio and television are run primarily by the recently deregulated Swiss PTT, SwissCom.  Switzerland benefits from a high per capita income and a relatively high phone line infrastructure of 66 per 100 inhabitants.  (Sweden 67, Denmark 63, US 64).  Almost 80% of households have TV's.(1)  The television market is dominated by the CableCom.  There are 2.5 million PC's in Switzerland, of which 1.2 million are networked.(2)  Switzerland spent an estimated US$ 9 billion on telecommunications in 1997. A potential limitation to the advancement of Swiss telecommunications is high connection, interconnection and subscription fees which are currently being addressed by KomKom, the newly appointed Communications Commission. (3)

Fiber optic Trunks

SwissCom has over US$ 1 billion  of fiber optic networks.  In March of 1998, SwissCom decided to place its fiber optic assets under a US leasehold.  Macquarie Corporate Finance in London was hired to perform the transaction.(4) The useful life of the network is being evaluated in order to refinance the assets.  DIAX AG, a joint venture between Swiss utilities companies and SBC Communications Inc., has its own fiber optics network along Swiss power lines.  Newtelco, a partnership between British Telecommunications PLC, TeleDenmark, Swiss Railways, Union Bank of Switzerland and Migros AG, is planning a fiber optic network along the Swiss railway lines. (5)

High Speed Services

ISDN services, called SwissNet, are provided by SwissCom.  Basic access to ISDN services rose 83% from 1996-1997 and primary access rose by 23%. (6)  Most ISPs offer ISDN services. For a list of providers and rates CLICK HERE.  In 1995, there were almost 70,000 ISDN subscribers in Switzerland.

Cellular Systems

Cellular subscription has increased 10 fold in the past decade with over 1 million subscribers in 1997.  85% of cellular subscriptions are digital, due in large part to the European developed digital standard, Global Systems for Mobile (GSM) communications networks. (7) While SwissCom will continue to offer cellular services, two new licenses have been awarded.  DIAX AG, a joint venture between Swiss utilities companies and SBC Communications Inc. (Texas) was awarded the 900 MHZ bandwidth.  Orange Communications AG, a partnership between Orange Plc. (UK), Viag AG (Germany) and Swissphone Engineering AG, was awarded the 1800 MHZ bandwidth.  Both plan to invest US$ 700 million into new operations. (8,9)

Satellite Systems

Stationary satellite systems are Eurotel and Intelsat.  They offer VSAT and SNG services.  Services are used mainly by large international companies.  SwissCom uses Intelsat for some international traffic.

Immarasat (International Maritime Satellite Organization) offers mobile satellite communications.  SwissCom is the service provider for Immarasat.  Systems transmit voice, telefax, telex, data and images.  Terminals are commercially available.  Customers are international organizations, disaster relief, reporters, corporate executives and engineers.  The system uses transponders from Eutelsat based in Rambouillet-Paris.  The system infrastructure and support is supplied by Alcatel, who is a partner and licensee of the US Omnitracs.  STR Alcatel in Zurich is the Swiss subsidiary.  The system is currently being marketed with GPS (Global Positioning System) for ground fleet data services, messaging re-routing and tracking services.

SwissCom also has a contract with Iridium, which was scheduled to start communications on September 23, 1998. (10)

Private Networks

Private networks have an important role in Switzerland's private banking sector.  Union Bank of Switzerland (UBS), the largest commercial bank in Switzerland with one of the largest private networks, has a world-wide router-based private digital network.  UBS has 250 branch offices and 15 main locations on 4 continents.  The bank's private digital network is UBINET, the UBS Integrated Network.(11) Most large companies in Switzerland have private networks.

Switzerland is one of six countries that provide global private network hubs in Western Europe.  Other countries are Belgium, France, Germany, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom.  There is relative no price difference between these nation's services. (12)

The Swiss PTT started FlexNet Virtual Private Networks on July 1, 1993.  VPN serives are offered by SwissCom, Sunrise and DIAX.  Tariffs are not published.(13)

Major Telecommunications Players

There are three companies offering local and national services in Switzerland, the first being SwissCom. Because of its excellent track record, SwissCom is expected to keep 60-70% of fixed line and mobile services for the next 5 to 10 years.  Sunrise, a partnership between Swiss Railways, Migros, Union Bank of Switzerland, British Telecom and TeleDenmark, is aggressively pursuing the long-distance market.  DIAX is the third company offering basic telephone services.

International and global services are being offered by WorldCom, Duetsche Telecom, France Telecom, AT&T, Global One, TeleDenmark and British Telecom. (14)

The following statistical information was obtained from the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) 1997 annual report on telecommunications developments.*  ITU, an international organization to coordinate global telecommunications, is in Geneva, Switzerland.

Population
                                      Total (in millions)                                            Density (per sq km)

	1997	1995	1997	1995
Switzerland	7.09	7.04	172	171
Germany	82.21	81.87	230	229
France	58.49	58.06	108	107
Italy	57.52	57.33	191	190

Gross Domestic Product
                                      Total (US$ B)                                                   per capita (US$)

	1996	1994	1996	1994
Switzerland	295	257	41,679	36,103
Germany	2,353	2,044	28,685	25,186
France	1,539	1,330	26,360	23,038
Italy	1,214	1,017	21,151	17,766

Main Telephone Lines
                                       Total (thousands)                                          per 100 inhabitants

	1997	1995	1997	1995
Switzerland	4,888	4,318	66.09	61.34
Germany	45,200	40,400	54.98	49.35
France	33,700	32,400	57.62	55.80
Italy	25,698	24,854	44.68	43.35

Cellular Subscribers
                                                                                                                           per 100 inhabitants

(thousands)	1997	1996	1995	1990	1997	1995
Switzerland	1,044	663	447	125	14.72	6.35
Germany	1,444	1,316	3,750	273	9.94	4.58
France	5,817	2,463	1,379	283	9.95	2.38
Italy	11,738	6,422	3,864	266	20.41	6.74

Cellular cont'd.
                                      % of total telephone subscribers               % Digital

	1997	1995	1997	1995
Switzerland	18.2	9.4	85.3	28.8
Germany	15.3	8.5	94.2	82.3
France	14.7	4.1	97.9	72.5
Italy	31.4	13.5	71.1	12.1

Tariffs 1995
                           Telephone (US$)**                                              Cellular (US$)

	Connection	Monthly fee	Local Call	Connection	Monthly fee***	3 minute call
Switzerland	169	21.2	.25	34	58.4	2.01
Germany	45	17.2	.16	52	54.6	-
France	61	9.2	.15	42	38.1	1.50
Italy	146	8.6	.15	146	7.3	3.43

Television 1995
 

(thousands)	Total receivers	per 100 inhabitants	Television households	% of households
Switzerland	3,245	46.1	2,623	79
Germany	45,000	55.0	32,634	88
France	33,600	57.9	20,897	91
Italy	25,000	43.6	16,091	76

Text Communications 
                                      Telex Subscribers                                          Facsimile Machines

(thousands)	1995	1990	1995	1990
Switzerland	8	25	197	83
Germany	39	117	1,447	696
France	96.2	135.9	1900	580
Italy	23	61	202	171

Data Communications 1995
 

(thousands)	ISDN subscribers	B-channels	Packet-switched	Leased-circuits
Switzerland	69.46	236.95	20.40	122.84
Germany	961.61	2,947.72	92.40	816.53
France	250.00	1,340.00	106.00	543.00
Italy	49.06	160.94	73.00	283.00

Telecommunications 1995
 

	Staff (thousands)	Revenue (US$ mil.)	Investment (US$ mil.)
Switzerland	20.6	8,889.2	2,580.5
Germany	212.2	48,035.6	12,651.8
France	155.8	27,161.8	5,662.0
Italy	118.0	20,003.7	4,712.2

*Excluding 1996-1997 data which was taken from the World Wide Web, http://www.itu.int/ti/.
**Residential fees.
***Digital fees.

Email: ml8359a@american.edu
Last updated: December 18, 1998