Lausanne to take fiber optics to homes under new joint agreement

Lausanne is set to become the first city with a fiber optic network built by Swisscom and a cable company, Lausanne Industrial Services (SiL). The new service will carry fiber optic service directly to homes in the city by 2017, pending approval by the city council and Comco, the Swiss competition commission.

Currently, about 10 percent of homes and businesses are connected to the Swisscom fiber optic network, but the company says this will rise to over 30 percent by 2015. “In accordance with the recommendations of the Swiss Federal Communications Commission (ComCom), the two partners will lay at least four fibre-optic cables to each house or business,” Swisscom says in a statement issued Monday 9 July. The fibre-optic network will therefore enable customers to choose between the services of Swisscom, Citycable or other telecommunication providers who will also have access to the new network thanks to the four fibre-optic cables laid.”

Fiber optics offer a number of advantages over copper cables, including lower costs, more users bundled onto the same cables, greater reliability.

Users in Switzerland now connect at the rate of one home or business every two minutes.

The deal reached by SiL and Swisscom calls for the two to share the costs, 50-50, but with SiL creating a wholly owned subsidiary that will become the owner of half of the network within five years, with Swisscom owning the other half.

The partnership covers only one part of the network: the “last mile” between local exchanges or distribution points and individual buildings, as well as interior cabling. Each partner will be separately responsible for connecting districts or distribution points with the telephone exchanges.

July 9, 2012

Continue