Summary

This annual publication, Switzerland-Telecoms, IP Networks, Digital Media and Forecasts, provides a comprehensive overview of the trends and developments in the telecommunications and digital media markets in Switzerland.
 
The Swiss telecom market showed moderate growth until 2008, when the economic downturn, which halved the countries GDP within a year, began to take hold. GDP was expected to fall by 3% in 2009. Although this will be less severe than in other developed economies, the telecom sector will be affected as consumers reign in the discretionary spending. Total telecom revenue growth was only about 1% in 2008 and may fall by up to 3% in 2009. Revenue from fixed-line services continues to fall by about 4% year-on-year, offset by growth in the broadband and mobile sectors.
 
Switzerland has one of the highest Internet penetration rates in Europe, supported by excellent cross-platform infrastructure with near-comprehensive DSL availability and a well developed cable TV market, a legacy of network build in the late 1980s. The fibre sector has become increasingly prominent, though thus far has been restricted to the main cities. The mobile phone sector has been stimulated by the introduction of a greater number of MVNOs, resulting in significant falls in voice and data prices although overall services remain among the most expensive in Europe.
 
Switzerland-Key telecom parameters-2008-2009
Sector | 2008 | 2009 (e) |
Broadband: |   |   |
Fixed broadband subscribers (million) | 2.88 | 3.12 |
Fixed broadband penetration rate | 34% | 37% |
Mobile broadband subscribers (million) | 1.3 | 1.7 |
Subscribers to telecoms services: |   |   |
Fixed-line telephony (million) | 5.0 | 4.8 |
Mobile phone (million) | 8.75 | 9.40 |
Mobile penetration (population) | 113% | 122% |
 
Key highlights:
*  Swisscom leads the fixed network voice market but competitors during the next few years will continue to capture considerable market share in all sectors, largely due to their substantially cheaper calls rates. The number of Swisscom's PSTN and ISDN access lines has consequently fallen year-on-year, placing further pressure on the company's future revenue.
*  Until 2006 competitor access to Swisscom's network was ineffectively regulated, and access prices remain among the highest in Europe. By the beginning of 2009 there were only about 31,000 unbundled lines in Switzerland, which has considerably affected the benefits of competition. By taking a firmer line on access, the regulator should substantially improve the conditions for alternative operators in 2010.
*  The regulator's 2009 spectrum review included releasing digital dividend spectrum in the 790MHz to 862MHz range for mobile services from 2015. The spectrum will significantly expand mobile broadband to rural areas that cannot be served economically by fixed-line networks.
*  Cablecom's nationwide network was among the first in Europe to be upgraded to deliver 100Mb/s, With 1.3 million customers to be connected by the end of 2010, the network will go far to meeting growing consumer demand for high-bandwidth applications.
*  Digital switchover in Switzerland has progressed well, with analogue services in the German speaking regions having ended by February 2008. The national digital transmitter network was completed at the end of 2008, making it possible to receive DVB-T signals throughout the country. With analogue TV transmissions to close progressively during 2010, sub-1GHz spectrum will be made available for mobile broadband and other uses ahead of many other European countries.
 
Data in this report is the latest available at the time of preparation and may not be for the current year.

Table of Contents

1. Key Statistics
2. Telecommunications market
2.1 Overview of Switzerland's telecom market
3. Regulatory environment
3.1 History
3.2 Regulatory authorities
3.3 Telecom sector liberalisation in Switzerland
3.4 Privatisation of Swisscom
3.5 Interconnect
3.6 Access
3.6.1 Bitstream access
3.7 Number portability
3.8 Carrier PreSelection (CPS)
3.9 Universal service
4. Fixed network market
4.1 Market overview
4.2 Swisscom
4.2.1 Company reorganisation
4.3 TDC Switzerland (Sunrise)
4.4 Cablecom
5. Telecommunications infrastructure
5.1 National telecom network
6. Broadband market
6.1 Overview
6.1.1 Government strategy
6.1.2 Broadband statistics
6.2 Cable modems
6.2.1 Cablecom
6.3 Asymmetrical Digital Subscriber Line (ADSL)
6.3.1 Swisscom
6.3.2 TDC Switzerland
6.3.3 Cybernet
6.3.4 VDSL
6.3.5 Naked DSL
6.4 Fibre-to-the-Home (FttH) networks
6.5 Broadband Powerline (BPL)
6.6 Wireless broadband
6.6.1 Wireless LANS (WLAN)
6.6.2 Mobile broadband
6.6.3 Satellite
7. Convergence
7.1 Key general trends
7.2 Business models
7.2.1 Triple play
7.3 Regulatory issues
7.3.1 VoIP
7.4 Digital TV (DTV)
7.4.1 Overview
7.4.2 Broadband (IPTV)
7.4.3 Cable TV
7.4.4 Satellite
7.4.5 Free-to-Air (FTA) TV
7.4.6 Digital terrestrial TV
7.4.7 Interactive TV (iTV)
7.4.8 Video-on-Demand (VoD)
7.4.9 VoIP
8. Mobile communications
8.1 Overview of Switzerland's mobile market
8.1.1 Mobile statistics
8.1.2 Mobile market shares
8.2 Regulatory issues
8.2.1 Spectrum regulations and spectrum auctions
8.2.2 Number portability
8.2.3 Fixed-to-mobile call charges
8.2.4 Roaming
8.3 Mobile technologies
8.3.1 Digital
8.3.2 Third Generation (3G) mobile
8.4 Major mobile operators
8.4.1 Swisscom Mobile
8.4.2 Network contracts
8.4.3 TDC (Sunrise)
8.4.4 Orange
8.4.5 Merger of Orange-Sunrise
8.4.6 Mobile Virtual Network Operators (MVNOs)
8.5 Mobile voice services
8.5.1 Prepaid cards
8.6 Mobile data services
8.6.1 Short Message Service (SMS)
8.6.2 Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS)
8.6.3 General Packet Radio Service (GPRS)
8.6.4 High-Speed Packet Access (HSPA)
8.6.5 High-Speed Circuit Switched Data (HSCSD)
8.6.6 Enhanced Data for GSM Evolution (EDGE)
8.6.7 Long-term evolution (LTE)
8.6.8 BlackBerry
8.6.9 iPhone
8.6.10 Mobile TV
8.7 Mobile applications
8.7.1 Location-based services
8.7.2 Mobile ticketing
9. Forecasts
9.1 Forecasts-broadband subscribers-2009-2012; 2019
9.1.1 Scenario 1-higher broadband subscriber growth
9.1.2 Scenario 2-lower broadband subscriber growth
9.2 Forecasts-mobile ARPU-2009-2014
9.3 Forecasts-UMTS subscribers-2009-2014
10. Glossary of Abbreviations
Table 1-Country statistics Switzerland-2009
Table 2-Telecom revenue and investment statistics-2008
Table 3-Telephone network statistics-2009
Table 4-Internet user statistics-June 2009
Table 5-Broadband statistics-2009
Table 6-Mobile statistics-June 2009
Table 7-National telecommunications authorities
Table 8-Fixed telephony connections-2000-2009
Table 9-Telecom sector revenue, profit and investment-2000-2008
Table 10-Interconnection revenue-2000-2008
Table 11-CPS as proportion of total lines-1999-2009
Table 12-CPS lines-2002-2008
Table 13-Share of fixed-line connections by operator-2007-2008
Table 14-Fixed-line revenue-2000-2009
Table 15-Cable fixed-line telephony connections-2003-2009
Table 16-Swisscom Group net revenue, EBITDA and net income-2004-2009
Table 17-Swisscom financial data by sector-2007-2009
Table 18-Swisscom subscribers by sector-2006-2009
Table 19-TDC Switzerland financial data-2006-2009
Table 20-TDC Switzerland subscribers by sector-2005-2008
Table 21-UPC Switzerland financial data-2005-2009
Table 22-UPC Switzerland operational data: home and subscriber statistics-2005-2009
Table 23-Fixed lines in service, teledensity and traffic in minutes-2000-2009
Table 24-ISDN subscribers-1995; 1997; 1999-2009
Table 25-Dial-up Internet subscribers-2000-2009
Table 26-Internet users and penetration rate-1996-2009
Table 27-Total broadband subscribers and penetration rate-2000-2009
Table 28-Broadband penetration by technology-2004-2009
Table 29-Broadband market share by operator-2007-2008
Table 30-DSL accesses by main provider-2004-2009
Table 31-DSL market share by main provider-2004-2009
Table 32-Swisscom ADSL subscribers-2003-2009
Table 33-Swisscom dial-up subscribers (historic)-2003-2007
Table 34-Sunrise broadband subscribers-2005-2009
Table 35-Fibre subscribers-2007-2010
Table 36-Broadband powerline connections (historic)-2001-2004
Table 37-Broadband satellite connections (historic)-2002-2004
Table 38-Swisscom IPTV subscribers-2006-2009
Table 39-Cable TV subscribers and penetration rate-2002-2009
Table 40-VoIP lines and traffic in minutes-2004-2009
Table 41-Mobile investment, UMTS and total-1998-2008
Table 42-Mobile operators, subscribers and annual change-June 2009
Table 43-Mobile subscribers and penetration rate-1995; 1997; 1999-2010
Table 44-UMTS subscribers-2005-2009
Table 45-Mobile revenue-2000-2009
Table 46-Share of subscribers by operator-2005-2009
Table 47-Mobile numbers ported-2000-2008
Table 48-Mobile termination charges by operator-2006; 2009
Table 49-European roaming charges-2007-2009
Table 50-Swisscom Mobile blended ARPU-2006-2009
Table 51-Swisscom Mobile revenue-2003-2009
Table 52-Swisscom Mobile subscribers-2006-2009
Table 53-TDC Sunrise subscribers-2004-2009
Table 54-TDC Sunrise revenue and annual change-2006-2009
Table 55-Orange mobile subscribers-2000-2009
Table 56-Orange revenue-2005-2009
Table 57-Orange annualised ARPU-2006-2009
Table 58-Orange mobile data as % of revenue-2003-2009
Table 59-Prepaid subscribers and market share-1998-2009
Table 60-Swisscom Mobile contract and prepaid subscribers-2006-2009
Table 61-Swisscom Mobile prepaid share of subscribers-1998-2009
Table 62-Mobile Internet traffic (historic)-2003-2006
Table 63-Swisscom Mobile sent SMS and MMS-2007-2009
Table 64-SMS, PSMS traffic and annual change-2002-2009
Table 65-MMS, premium MMS traffic and annual change-2003-2009
Table 66-Forecast fixed-line broadband subscribers-higher market growth scenario-2009-2012; 2019
Table 67-Forecast fixed-line broadband subscribers-lower market growth scenario-2009-2012; 2019
Table 68-Forecast mobile ARPU-2005-2014
Table 69-Forecast UMTS subscribers and penetration rate-2009-2014
Exhibit 1-Access and the local loop
Exhibit 2-Overview of media convergence
Exhibit 3-BlackBerry services defined