COMCO’s view is that Swisscom should expand its fibre network only using point-to-point (P2P) topology, a decision that the Swiss incumbent telco says will lead to longer lead times and involve significantly higher costs, specifically in rural areas.
“Swisscom finds COMCO’s decision incomprehensible,” the company said in a statement that was titled “COMCO stalls rapid network expansion”.
Swisscom began using a point to multipoint topology between the exchange and local cable duct for its fibre network in 2020, a decision it continues to support.
“Contrary to the stance taken by COMCO, all competitors would have been able to obtain a data stream from Swisscom for a specific connection on non-discriminatory terms, enabling them to continue to offer a full and competitive range of services, including telephony, Internet and TV,” the statement said.
In Swisscom’s view, P2MP is the most efficient and cost-effective way for FTTH to be rolled out in Switzerland, and it claims that P2MP is the prevailing architecture for FTTH rollout across Europe.
COMCO has been investigating the extent to which P2MP topology impedes competition since December 2020.
Alongside the investigation, it ordered precautionary measures, preventing Swisscom, other than in a few exceptional cases, from putting any P2MP connections into operation and marketing them.
In October 2022, Swisscom announced it would install new fibre connections as before, using the point-to-point (P2P) architecture endorsed by COMCO and convert existing P2MP connections to P2P.
This is despite Swisscom’s claims that expansion with P2P is more laborious, will involve more civil engineering work and will bring delays.
“Following today’s decision by COMCO, the expansion is still mostly assured in line with the Swisscom network strategy,” the company said.
Delays in rural communities would be even more severe, Swisscom said.
“Proceeding with P2P means that, by 2030, up to 10% fewer households will have optical fibre access than would have been possible with P2MP, and the FTTH expansion will be completed several years later than originally planned.”
