Swisscom CEO Urs Schaeppi today revealed that the telecom operator has lost subscribers in its mobile and broadband business in Switzerland in the first half of 2019 despite increasing capital expenditure (Capex).
Swisscom’s broadband customer base reached 2.024 million in H1 2019 as compared with 2.028 million in H1 2018.

Swisscom’s mobile customer base reached 63.68 million in H1 2019 as compared with 64.34 million in H1 2018.

Swisscom spent CHF 1.297 billion (+21.3 percent) towards Capital during the first half of the year. The company’s first half Capex in Switzerland, its home market, was CHF 961 million (+33.3 percent).

Swisscom in February 2019 appointed Christoph Aeschlimann as the head of the IT, Network & Infrastructure Group division. Christoph Aeschlimann, in the role of CIO and CTO of Swisscom, is responsible for the 4G and 5G network strategy and roll out plans at Swisscom.

Swisscom’s revenue fell 2.4 percent to CHF 5.663 billion, while operating income dropped 5.3 percent to CHF 1.007 billion — reflecting the decline in broadband and mobile customer base in the first half.

Swisscom TV connections in Switzerland rose 1.9 percent to 780,000. Fastweb broadband connections increased 4 percent to 2.6 million. Fastweb mobile connections rose 27.3 percent to 1.629 million.

Urs Schaeppi said: “Many market areas are saturated and all providers are using promotions to try and gain customers and market share. We are responding with new offerings and the expansion of our networks.”

Swisscom said it added 570,000 customers for its new inOne mobile offering that offers unlimited calls, text messages and data with no roaming charges in 39 countries in Europe.
Swisscom’s 5G mobile network has been live since mid-April. Swisscom plans to cover 90 percent of the population with 5G by the end of the year.

“Despite resistance from some sections of the population, we are sticking to our goal of covering 90 percent of Switzerland by the end of the year,” Urs Schaeppi said.

Swisscom connects 68 percent of all Swiss homes and offices with fast broadband speeds of more than 80 Mbps. Over 40 percent of all homes and offices benefit from connections with bandwidths of more than 200 Mbps. Swisscom will provide fast broadband to all Swiss municipalities and to 90 percent of homes and offices in Switzerland by the end of 2021.

Swisscom said it covered 99 percent of the Swiss population with its LTE network. Over 96 percent of the Swiss population surf at speeds of up to 300 Mbps, over 72 percent at speeds of up to 500 Mbps and around 27 percent at 700 Mbps.