Swisscom is not currently allowed to expand its fiber optic network with a new technology. This was decided by the federal court. The Competition Commission (Weko) issued a precautionary stop order in December 2020 after filing a lawsuit against the telecommunications company.
The Federal Administrative Court upheld this decision at the end of September 2021. In a decision released Tuesday evening, the Federal Supreme Court dismissed Swisscom’s appeal against that decision.
Swisscom wanted to exclude their competitors
Swisscom’s strategy now envisages the use of a single-fiber tree-structured model instead of a four-fiber model when expanding the fiber optic access network.
For other telecommunications providers, however, this means that they cannot gain physical access to the fiber optic lines between the Swisscom hub and the connection of individual subscribers.
Swisscom said on Tuesday evening it was considering the decision. Swisscom has decided to rely heavily on the point-to-point topology allowed by ComCo in October 2022 to counter the blocking of fiber optic expansion by the procedure.
case not closed yet
In the present case, the Federal Supreme Court was only required to decide on the admissibility of the injunction. In doing so, it examines whether constitutional rights such as the prohibition of arbitrariness have been violated.
Based on a summary review, according to the Lausanne judges, it is clearly not untenable to take precautionary measures to expand the fiber optic network based on the Cartel Law. The same is true if the lower court upholds the requirements for this injunction to become law.
Nor was the lower court’s assumption that, without action taken, there would be an irreparable disadvantage for competition. The proportionality of the provision was also justifiably evaluated. It can also be assumed that there is an overriding public interest in securing non-discriminatory and monopolistic access to fiber optic networks.
After Swisscom announced its new strategy to expand its fiber optic access network in February 2020, a competitor submitted an ad. The Weko secretariat started a procedure in December of the same year.
Hundreds of thousands of fiber optic connections are blocked as the dispute is still not fully resolved. These are the connections Swisscom has already built based on the single fiber model. (SDA/sfa)