Swiss incumbent Swisscom has announced a JV with local utility Ewl Energie Wasser Luzern that will connect 90% of the city of Lucerne to fibre by 2014 for around SFr90m (E71m).
Swisscom has committed to 60% of this total investment cost, with Ewl…
Swiss incumbent Swisscom has announced a JV with local utility Ewl Energie Wasser Luzern that will connect 90% of the city of Lucerne to fibre by 2014 for around SFr90m (E71m).
Swisscom has committed to 60% of this total investment cost, with Ewl agreeing to pay the remainder.
Multiple fibres are being laid per household and business to comply with rules agreed with local regulator ComCom in early October 2009, according to the company.
However, similar fibre deployment utility partnerships announced recently by Swisscom are currently under investigation by the Competition Commission (ComCo).
ComCo is investigating plans that Swisscom announced on 4 January to form a JV with Groupe E, another local utility, to deploy fibre throughout the canton of Fribourg from mid-2011.
Swisscom expects ComCo to decide whether to approve the partnership by May this year, but reports suggest ComCo has already identified indications that the partnership strengthens or establishes a dominant market position. A similar agreement between Swisscom and utilities firm St. Gallen Public Utilities is reportedly also being investigated.
Late last year, Swisscom announced other utility partnerships with EWB to connect the entire city of Berne with fibre by 2020 for SFr172m (E137m), and IWB to fully connect Basel with fibre by the end of 2017 for SFr170m (E136m).
In addition, the operator is working with Geneva Industrial Services to build high-speed networks in Geneva, and a similar agreement is being finalised for Zurich.
Swisscom declined to comment.
