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The Internet service providers VTX, green, netstream and init7 are pioneering alternative telecommunications providers and currently offer attractive DSL packages, in particular for residential customers and SMEs. The four providers are now collaborating with Swisscom on the network technology of the future and in so doing, are taking advantage of the telecommunications provider's reseller offering. During the pilot phase, which starts at the beginning of March, and will become a commercial offer in autumn 2009, the offering will focus on the areas in Zurich, Basel and Geneva which are already equipped with fibre-optic cables. Swisscom plans to connect some 100,000 households to the fibre-optic network by the end of 2009.

Francis Cobbi, Co-Director of VTX, firmly believes in the significance of the fibre-optic network: "We are delighted to be taking part in this pilot. It offers us the opportunity to test tomorrow's high-speed network in real conditions. We were already offering ADSL back in 2000, and in 2007, VTX was the first company to launch its own ADSL2+ offering following the unbundling of the last mile. It is therefore a logical step for VTX to be taking part in this important project." Franz Grueter, CEO of green, adds: "As an innovative provider of telecoms and Internet services, we want to continue to offer our customers state-of-the-art services based on high-performance infrastructures. Our successful collaboration with Swisscom is set to be strengthened with the new fibre-optic offerings."

Reseller offer creates competition at the service level

As part of the agreed collaboration, the partners will initially check the technical implementation and market acceptance of the individual offerings. VTX, green, netstream and init7 are all free to structure their own end customer and reseller offerings. netstream will therefore use the opportunity in the partnership to certify its IPTV wholesale offerings, while init7 will take advantage of the possibility of further expanding its international Internet backbone based on DSL and fibre-optic lines.

Swisscom presented its reseller offering to all Internet service providers at the beginning of November. In the initial phase the non-discriminatory and fair offering covers bandwidths of 30 to 50 Mbps for download (receiving data) and up to 10 Mbps for upload (sending data).

Network competition brings advantages for alternative providers

In addition to the presentation of the reseller offering in November, Swisscom invited potential cooperation partners from the telecommunications, cable and utilities industries to work with it on building the fibre-optic network. The purpose of this collaboration is to generate strong network competition in order to promote investment and innovation and offer the greatest possible benefits to customers. The competition is set to benefit alternative Internet service providers who will be able to choose between several network operators and a variety of technologies.