Court rules in Swisscom’s favour in fibre-optic dispute
Keystone-SDA
The Federal Administrative Court has upheld an appeal by Swisscom to quash a CHF18 million Swiss fine due to the way in which it expanded its fibre-optic network.
The fine was imposed by the Swiss Competition Commission on the telecoms group.
The court justified its decision on the grounds that Swisscom did not hold a dominant position in the relevant market. The Competition Commission (Weko) had therefore wrongly assumed that there had been a breach of competition law.
The dispute centred on a new technology for expanding the fibre-optic network, which Swisscom had introduced in 2020. Under this system, a feed line is laid as far as the street manhole, where the signal is then distributed to households. This means that competitors can no longer lease end-to-end lines.
Weko had halted the roll-out with interim measures and imposed the sanction in December 2023. The judgement is not yet final and may be appealed to the Federal Supreme Court.
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Swisscom lands CHF18 million fine in fibre-optic cable dispute
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Translated from German, reviewed by an English Department journalist.
