Salt smells a breach of contract with UPC after Swisscom switch

Salt takes issue with both Swisscom's and UPC's behavior. The announcement of the switch a year in advance is not only unnecessary, but even in breach of contract, said Salt CEO Andreas Schönenberger in an interview with the Handelszeitungwhich was published online on Tuesday. Salt is currently examining legal steps. At Swisscom, Schönenberger suspects that "interests other than purely commercial ones" were also at the forefront of the offer to Salt. For Schönenberger, the timing of the announcement of the merger is no coincidence. "In particular, Swisscom could have wanted to use the deal as a sham example to make it palatable for parliament to reject the proposed revision of the Telecommunications Act (TCA)," said Schönenberger. Competition law may also have been violated if Swisscom had made Salt an offer below cost.

A week ago on Monday, cable network operator UPC announced the change of mobile network provider. In doing so, it described Swisscom's mobile network as "future-proof", by which it implicitly also assessed Salt's network. The switch to the new mobile network is expected to take place at the beginning of 2019. Schönenberger qualified Salt's earlier announcement that it might withdraw if the upcoming frequency allocation was to the company's disadvantage. This had been misunderstood, he said. "Salt has in no way threatened to withdraw from Switzerland, but merely pointed out that if, as a result of an auction, a participant does not receive the critical minimum amount of spectrum, then it will not be able to offer competitive 5G and will probably be taken out of the market in the medium term."

The Federal Communications Commission ComCom has announced that it will soon be awarding new mobile radio frequencies. However, a date for this allocation has not yet been set. (SDA)