From April 1, the last mile is history
The Federal Council decided on Friday to bring the revised Telecommunications Act and the ordinances based on it into force on April 1, 2007. The revision mainly concerns the unbundling of the last mile and consumer protection.
The Federal Council decided on Friday to bring the revised Telecommunications Act and the ordinances based on it into force on April 1, 2007. The revision mainly concerns the unbundling of the last mile and consumer protection.
According to the law, Swisscom must provide its competitors with the cables of the house connections in return for compensation. The ordinance regulates this unbundling, such as access to local exchanges or distribution boxes, where competitors connect their networks to Swisscom's cables. It will be some time before unbundling is implemented and customers can actually use the competitor offers: the first offers are expected at the end of the year, as Bakom wrote in a press release on Friday.
Improved consumer protection The law extends consumer protection for value-added services, i.e. numbers or text messages with higher tariffs. If such a bill is disputed, the connection may no longer be blocked. Furthermore, price caps have been introduced: CHF 100 as a basic fee, CHF 10 per minute, CHF 5 per minute for SMS subscriptions, CHF 400 in total per call or subscription. Providers of value-added services must now be based in a country that allows Swiss customers to take legal action in Swiss courts. Access to erotic services for minors will also be blocked as far as possible. Further measures include the establishment of an arbitration board and a general ban on spam (see
).
Telecommunications companies are also now obliged to offer a minimum number of apprenticeships. The number corresponds to three percent of their full-time positions.
According to the law, Swisscom must provide its competitors with the cables of the house connections in return for compensation. The ordinance regulates this unbundling, such as access to local exchanges or distribution boxes, where competitors connect their networks to Swisscom's cables. It will be some time before unbundling is implemented and customers can actually use the competitor offers: the first offers are expected at the end of the year, as Bakom wrote in a press release on Friday.
Improved consumer protection The law extends consumer protection for value-added services, i.e. numbers or text messages with higher tariffs. If such a bill is disputed, the connection may no longer be blocked. Furthermore, price caps have been introduced: CHF 100 as a basic fee, CHF 10 per minute, CHF 5 per minute for SMS subscriptions, CHF 400 in total per call or subscription. Providers of value-added services must now be based in a country that allows Swiss customers to take legal action in Swiss courts. Access to erotic services for minors will also be blocked as far as possible. Further measures include the establishment of an arbitration board and a general ban on spam (see
).
Telecommunications companies are also now obliged to offer a minimum number of apprenticeships. The number corresponds to three percent of their full-time positions.
