Switzerland’s highest court has upheld a decision by competition authorities to prevent the country’s biggest telecoms provider using single-mode optical fibre cables for the expansion of its network.
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Rede de fibra ótica: um revés judicial para a Swisscom
In 2020, the Swiss Competition Commission (COMCO) ruled that Swisscom could not expand its fibre-optic network using single-mode cables rather than the standard multimodal ones. Changing the technology would unfairly prevent other companies gaining access to the network in order to serve their clients, COMCO said.
After Swisscom’s appeal against this decision was rejected by the Federal Administrative Court in September 2021, the Federal Court has now also rejected the complaint.
In a ruling reported on Tuesday night, the court said the COMCO decision was neither untenable nor arbitrary, and was based on the country’s anti-cartel law. There is an overriding public interest in establishing a non-discriminatory and non-monopolistic access to fibre-optic networks in the country, judges said.
Comco is set to make a larger ruling on how to proceed on the issue next year.
On Wednesday, Swisscom said the latest Federal Court decision would in any case have no concrete effect on its operations; a month ago, the telecommunications firm already changed plans and is now proceeding according to Comco’s requirements, it said.
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