Albert Rösti on gigabit strategy and AI regulation at Suissedigital Day

Suissedigital, the association for communication networks, hosted the annual Suissedigital Day in Bern. The event in the Kursaal Bern began with a look back - on the occasion of Simon Osterwalder's 10th anniversary as Managing Director of Suissedigital. He took over the management of the association in March 2014 - when it was still called Swisscable.

In his review of past highlights, he quickly turned to Suissedigital Day, describing the event as "perhaps the greatest achievement" of the association. "We are not a family; we are not a club of friends," he told the guests, some of whom are probably in direct competition with other members of the association. But with the Suissedigital Day, a platform has been created for exchange, where we can work together in a constructive and goal-oriented manner. It was about long-term policy and getting a foot in the door.

This year, the focus is on SMEs for the first time. As an association with many SMEs among its members, it was time to sharpen the focus and ask what SMEs can do in a digitalized, connected world. "What do I do if I have already sold fiber to the home (FTTH)?" Osterwalder answered his own question straight away: Services.

He sees a lot of potential for SMEs here. He listed possible services such as local data center services or cybersecurity services. "Our industry has not yet exhausted the capacities in the IT market," he told the association members. There are also many opportunities to enter into partnerships. After all, only very few association members can do everything themselves.

First Federal Councillor at Suissedigital Day

In keeping with the Managing Director's anniversary, Suissedigital Day had a special guest of honor this year. For the first time, a Federal Councillor spoke at the conference of cable network operators. Albert Rösti, Head of the Federal Department of the Environment, Transport, Energy and Communications (DETEC), spoke in the Kursaal about the Confederation's gigabit strategy and possible regulation of artificial intelligence (AI).

"There is no other country that has such a basic service," said Rösti. "Thanks in part to you, we are above the EU average in terms of network performance. This result will improve significantly once again, as the cable TV networks now also offer Internet speeds of 2.5 gigabits per second."

"However, we still want to improve on the expansion of fiber optics," said the Federal Councillor. Currently, fiber optic coverage to the home in Switzerland is around 60 percent. By the end of next year, around two thirds of homes and businesses should be connected to a fiber optic network.

"However, it is foreseeable that modern fiber optic networks will not be built throughout Switzerland because it simply won't be profitable everywhere," said Rösti. As copper networks will be decommissioned in the medium term, there is a risk that not all buildings will be connected to reliable telecommunications lines, according to the Federal Council. "This must be avoided."

Funding program for gigabit strategy

In December 2023, DETEC was therefore tasked with drawing up a gigabit strategy to close this looming supply gap. The aim is to provide all households and businesses with bandwidths of at least 1 gigabit per second as comprehensively as possible. This should prevent a digital urban-rural divide. "I'm thinking here above all of the remotest and most remote areas of our country."

"However, the development will cost a lot," Rösti told the cable network operators. "We are talking about more than half a billion francs according to our estimates." The federal government therefore intends to support the expansion financially. "Of course, and this is very important to me, we don't want to replace the market here," said the Federal Councillor. "But we want to close the gap where this expansion is not being carried out by the market." If a municipality or region does not consider support to be necessary, the federal government will not become active. The funding program is limited to seven years.

The cantons are to bear part of the costs for the fiber optic expansion. Nevertheless, it will not be easy to get the funding program up and running. The federal government is currently implementing numerous cost-cutting measures to reduce the budget by CHF 3.5 billion from 2027 and CHF 4.5 billion from 2029.

Avoid overregulation of AI

The topic of AI is currently also the responsibility of DETEC. Together with the Department of Foreign Affairs and the Department of Justice, DETEC is to submit an overview of AI to the Federal Council. And "based on this, also consider the extent to which artificial intelligence should be regulated in our country", explained Rösti.

"It would be wrong to go into activism here and slow down economic activity and progress too early with regulation," said the Federal Councillor. "We are one of the most innovative countries in the world. We are in this area too and want to remain so." A great deal can already be regulated on the basis of existing laws.

In a subsequent question and answer session, Rösti drew a comparison with the food industry. The federal government does not prohibit the sale of food, he explained. "But it does stipulate that the packaging must state what's inside. So that people know what they are buying." This is also necessary for AI products.

Gaming against the shortage of skilled workers

Another topic addressed at Suissedigital Day 2024 was the shortage of skilled workers. Joachim Reuter, guest lecturer in Sports Marketing, Gaming & E-Sports at the FHNW and former Head of E-Sports / Marketing at FC Basel, and Fabian Wicki, owner of Gestalt Kommunikation and also a lecturer at the FHNW, spoke about this. In their joint presentation, they showed how companies can use gaming as a vehicle for attracting learners.

Reuter began by showing how big the market for gaming and related products is: 187 billion US dollars. It is also a growth market. "These are figures that cannot be ignored," he said.

He later went on to talk about the amount of prize money in the e-sports sector. "In terms of prize money, e-sports hardly has to hide behind Wimbledon and certainly not behind the Tour de France." The record was set at the 2021 Dota 2 tournament The International, where over 40 million dollars were awarded in total. At Wimbledon in 2024, the prize money amounted to a total of 63 million dollars and at the Tour de France 2.7 million.

In Switzerland, around 60 percent of the population play games at least once a year. "Gaming is of course very strongly associated with the young target group, but the average gamer is almost 40 years old," explained Reuter. And the proportion of women is at least a third, and is even significantly higher in certain sub-areas of gaming.

"Brands are increasingly recognizing that gaming is an attractive platform to present themselves." Reuter cited examples such as the Insurance provider Baloise, which has opened a branch in the video game GTA 5or Burger King; the fast food chain sponsored the then almost completely unknown English football club Stevenage FC so that the Burger King logo would appear in the video game Fifa.

Employer branding in the digital world

Wicki took up the topic of employer branding. Gaming requires a stable and fast internet connection. It is therefore obvious for cable network operators to become active in this area.

In August of this year, almost 9,000 apprenticeships were vacant. In addition, a quarter of all apprenticeship contracts in Switzerland end in premature termination. This is all "grist to the mill of the skills shortage". To counteract this, he presented his concept of a Swiss Digital League - a joint FIFA e-sports league of the industry association Suissedigital.

The apprentices are invited to take part by their training companies. In this way, the companies turn the apprentices into brand ambassadors. The league will also have a physical tournament with an award ceremony. And how does this help to attract new employees? The "Bring a Friend" concept is intended to attract potential new apprentices, explained Wicki. Each apprentice can bring someone from their own network with them and introduce them to the world of cable network operators.

Wicki then went on to explain what stage this idea is currently at. It is a concept that is already in the starting blocks to be realized, he explained. The preparatory work has already been done, for example the League was already represented with a stand at the Suissedigital Day. Now the concept just needs to be implemented.

No fear of AI

The Suissedigital Day 2024 also included a lecture by philosopher Ludwig Hasler. He spoke about the role of humans in an AI world. "Knowledge is a child of yesterday," he said. Specialist skills are in very good hands with machines. People should therefore concentrate on seeing the world in a new way and coming up with ideas for what could be nicer, funnier and more convenient. "We should get our act together to lead this development as far as possible and not just look on," he said.

There were also presentations on the topic of cyber security at this year's conference. For example, Bettina Zimmermann, CEO of GU Sicherheit & Partner, spoke about crisis management in the event of cyber incidents. She had already given a presentation on this topic - together with neuropsychologist Wolfgang Maier - at this year's Gohack24 Symposium. (Coen Kaat/jor/swi)

This article first appeared in Netzwoche.