Swiss operator Swisscom says it will discontinue 2021 with 1,975 antennas in 888 locations, including its mid-band-based 5G + technology.
Telco says its 5G service using 3.5G Hz spectrum has now reached 62% of the Swiss population. Swisscom also currently uses dynamic spectrum sharing using 5G to 99% of the country’s population, borrowing from its LTE network.
“To ensure high network quality while the pressure is rising fast, fifth generation mobile communications need to be launched quickly; 5G is more powerful, more efficient and more durable than its predecessor technology. 4G is now almost a decade old and is increasingly reaching its limits. But the expansion of mobile networks is stalling in many places, and there is a delay in creating the much-needed capabilities for both 4G and 5G, “Telco said in a statement.
Switzerland has connected 4.8 million or about 90% of Switzerland’s homes and businesses to its 80 Mbps network by the end of 2021. More than 3.9 million or 72% of homes and businesses now also have access to 200 Mbps service, the operator said.
Switzerland says it aims to double the FTTH coverage in Switzerland to about 60% by 2025, but says the authority’s intervention would make such achievement significantly more expensive and reduce planned coverage to 50%.
“By 2025, the original expansion target of about 1.5 million fiber-optic connections will be reduced by one-third, or about 500,000 homes and offices,” the operator said.
In 2021, the group’s overall revenue grew 0.7% year on year to CHF 11.2 billion ($ 12.1 billion). In Switzerland, revenues fell 0.2% to CHF 8.2 billion, while Italian business grew 3.8% to 2.4 billion euros ($ 2.7 billion) a year. In Italy, Swisscom owns the local teleco fastwave.
For fiscal year 2022, Swisscom forecasts CHF 11.1 billion – CHF 11.2 billion net revenue, EBITDA of about 4.4 billion CHF and capital expenditure of about 2.3 billion CHF
The carrier network was launched commercially in April 2019 using equipment from Swedish vendor Ericsson. Initially, the new technology was introduced in 54 cities and communities in Switzerland, including Zurich, Bern, Geneva, Basel, Lausanne and Lucerne.
Swisscom uses Ericsson spectrum sharing software to reach 5G coverage nationwide with 5G-ready 4G radios based on traffic demand by splitting spectrum between 4G and 5G carriers.
In February 2019, Switzerland’s Federal Communications Commission (ComCom) collected CHF380 million after providing 5G frequencies to local mobile operators Salt, Sunrise and Swisscom.
Swisscom has secured 30 MHz in the 700 MHz band, 120 MHz in the 3.5 GHz band and 50 MHz in the 1.4 GHz band.
Salt has secured 20 MHz in the 700 MHz band, 80 MHz in the 3.5 GHz band and 10 MHz in the 1.4 GHz range.
Meanwhile, Sunrise bought 10 MHz in the 700 MHz band, 100 MHz in the 3.5 GHz range and 15 MHz in the 1.4 GHz band. The carrier also secured an additional 10 MHz in the 700 MHz band.
