The best network is getting even better
Maybe you've already heard. By the end of 2021, we intend to make the fixed network fit for the future in all municipalities in Switzerland. In doing so, we will focus in particular on FTTS technology, which will enable bandwidths of between 80 Mbit/s and 10 Gbit/s for 90% of homes and businesses, even in remote locations.
Today, almost half of Switzerland's homes and businesses can already benefit from connections with more than 200 Mbit/s; and over 1.5 million of these are connected with FTTH.
What's more, we have also committed ourselves to the new expansion targets for FTTH. By the end of 2025, we want to double optical fibre coverage in households and businesses compared with 2019, in order to provide all customers with access to the best network in Switzerland, everywhere and all the time.
With the accelerated expansion of FTTS, we are completing important preliminary work for the subsequent expansion to FTTH. With FTTH, Swisscom simply extends the optical fibres, which in the case of FTTS and FTTB are located just in front of the building or are already installed in the basement, into the flats and business premises.
And in locations where this will not be possible by 2025, we will modernise the existing FTTS networks. Many areas in Switzerland still have older network elements due to earlier expansion activities. In the coming years, these will be replaced by latest generation technologies, which in turn will further improve the performance available to customers.
What does this mean for you and your customers?
With our BBCS Wholesale product, even higher bandwidths (up to 10 Gbit/s) will be available to you and your customers on an increasing basis over the coming years. And not just in specific areas, but throughout the whole of Switzerland. A complete service from a single source, which will secure the foundation so that your customers will remain satisfied, both now and in the future.
Good to know:
FTTS – Fibre to the Street:
With FTTS, optical fibres are pulled from one local exchange to the next distribution shaft in the street, and the so-called main cables are upgraded from copper to optical fibre. For the remaining distance to the subscriber line, the signals continue to run over copper cables. This procedure allows us to expand the network more quickly throughout an area and provide bandwidths of up to 500 Mbit/s thanks to the G.fast technology.
FTTB – Fibre to the Building:
With FTTB, optical fibres are pulled into a customer's building, e.g. into the basement. In most cases, the connection from there to the flats or business premises is established using the existing copper lines. Until 2020, this procedure was primarily used for larger buildings with many flats or business premises. Thanks to the G.fast technology, bandwidths of up to 500Mbit/s are possible.
FTTH – Fibre to the Home:
With FTTH, the optical fibre cable is drawn right into the flats or business premises. The cable is then attached to optical telecommunications outlet (OTO), to which the terminal equipment (such as a router) is connected. This enables very high symmetrical data transmission rates of up to 10Gbit/s (upload and download).