Berne/Geneva, 31 August 2012, 10:00
Extension of the fibre-optic network in Geneva underwaySwisscom and Geneva Industrial Services (Services Industriels de Genève, SIG) have come to an understanding for the further continuation of their combined project to extend the fibre-optic network in Geneva. To make this possible, some important points of the cooperation agreement have been renegotiated in the past months. Some clauses had to be either removed or adapted because they had been criticised by the Competition Commission (COMCO) when the fibre-optic cooperation agreement was submitted for approval. The extension of the fibre-optic network in the city of Geneva and its suburbs* can now proceed without delay.
The compromise between the contractual partners meant that
important amendments could be made to the agreement in the
shortest possible time. Investment protection was removed
entirely. In response to one of COMCO's main demands,
SIG and Swisscom both suggest the implementation of dark,
passive fibre (layer 1). Meanwhile, the compensation
payment mechanism has been more clearly defined.
Swisscom and SIG are happy with the agreement as they can
now proceed with the extension rapidly and with reasonable
entrepreneurial risks. Swisscom will provide approximately
60% of the investments necessary for the extension of the
fibre-optic network in the city of Geneva and its suburbs,
while SIG will invest the remaining funds. Both parties
will have access to the necessary fibres over the whole
area covered by the network.
The two partners have agreed a timeframe of three to four
years to connect the majority of households and businesses
in the communities concerned to the network. Already today,
practically the whole of the city of Geneva has been
connected to the network and thousands of residential and
commercial customers are enjoying telephony, super-fast
broadband and HD television services delivered via this new
fibre-optic network.
Swisscom has already made similar amendments to the
agreements for Basel, Berne, Fribourg, Lucerne, Lausanne
and Zurich. The changes were proven necessary when COMCO
published its final report in September 2011, questioning
some important elements of the cooperation model. Thanks to
this arrangement between Swisscom and SIG, the contracts
that were initially affected by COMCO's decision have
been renegotiated.
In Switzerland, one more home or business is connected to
the fibre-optic network about every two minutes. This year,
Swisscom is investing 1.7 billion in the Swiss
infrastructure, which is 400 million more than in 2010. By
June 2012, Swisscom and its cooperation partners had laid
cables to the basements of approximately 420,000 households
and businesses. By 2015, the number of homes connected to
the network should reach a million. That's one third of
all Swiss homes. The proportion of homes currently
connected is approximately 10%.
* The suburbs comprise Carouge, Chêne-Bourg,
Chêne-Bougeries, Grand-Saconnex, Lancy, Onex, Vernier,
Thônex and Meyrin.
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