Basic service provision – comprehensive network coverage
Swisscom is responsible for providing basic telecoms services in Switzerland, and has been mandated to do so until the end of 2022 in accordance with the current universal service licence. The purpose of the mandate is the provision of network access throughout Switzerland, primarily voice telephony and broadband Internet access. The guaranteed minimum transmission speed for a broadband Internet connection in 2019 was 3 Mbps (downloads) and 300 kbps (uploads). The price ceiling for this service (including fixed-line telephony) is CHF 55 per month (excluding VAT). Since 1 January 2020, Swisscom has been implementing the new rules for the basic service provision, and has adjusted the guaranteed minimum bandwidths to 10 Mbps (downloads) and 1 Mbps (uploads).
The basic service provision for which Swisscom has long been responsible also includes providing special services for people with disabilities.
Even in locations that are difficult to access, Swisscom provides the basic service thanks to its technical capabilities. In collaboration with Alpine associations and at the request of the Swiss Group for Mountain Regions (SAB), Swisscom has retrofitted 282 Alpine businesses and huts with the latest technologies (All-IP and power supply) in the past two years (Alpine campaign).
Unit | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | |||||
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Number of public payphones 1 | Number | 2,960 | 1,181 | 0 | ||||
Emergency calls | in thousand | 2,799 | 2,824 | 3,000 | ||||
Calls to the service for visually and hearing impaired | in thousand | 349 | 293 | 252 | ||||
1 Of which 2,451 (2017), 2,844 (2016) within the scope of basic service provision.
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As of 2018, public payphones are no longer inclulded in the basic telecom service.
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