National Council against privatization of Swisscom
Swisscom should not be privatized. On Wednesday, the National Council decisively rejected a motion by Zurich SVP National Council member Natalie Rickli.
The decision was made by 114 votes to 55 with 8 abstentions. Rickli argued for full privatization instead of "pseudo-liberalization." The federal government could still be a strong minority shareholder, she said. Rickli described the current situation as unsatisfactory. On the one hand, Swisscom is criticized for being too focused on profits and neglecting investments in peripheral regions. On the other hand, its dominant position leads to distortions of competition. The federal government is the main shareholder, regulator and customer at the same time.
Marginal regions not profitable
Communications Minister Doris Leuthard noted that the discussion had been going on for years. Nothing would change in Swisscom's market power if the federal government sold two percent of the shares. Switzerland has a good basic service, Leuthard pointed out. That comes at a cost. Companies that are only focused on profit would not invest to open up peripheral regions. The federal government's majority stake would not restrict Swisscom, nor would it hinder competitors in the market.
No split of Swisscom
Also under discussion was the idea of splitting Swisscom into a public network company and a private service company. However, the National Council also rejected a postulate by Balthasar Glättli (Greens/ZH) to examine such a split - by 161 votes to 29 with 1 abstention. Leuthard said that the Federal Council had examined such possibilities in previous years and rejected them. There must be good reasons for such drastic interventions. She did not see the advantage of such a "huge exercise".
Privatization once planned
In 2005, at the request of then Finance Minister Hans-Rudolf Merz, the Federal Council proposed giving up the federal government's stake in Swisscom. It submitted a corresponding revision of the law to the Swiss parliament. In doing so, he wanted to give Swisscom more freedom and relieve the federal government of risks. However, parliament rejected the privatization in 2006. According to a survey conducted by the gfs.bern research institute in 2016, privatization would not stand a chance at the ballot box today. (SDA)
