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Use of Swisscom's mobile network increases substantially at events such as the World Economic Forum. In order to prevent bottlenecks in telephone and data transmissions, the company has greatly increased network capacity in Davos. Moreover, Swisscom customers in the centre of Davos can now take advantage of mobile network data connections that are twice as fast. To achieve these rates, Swisscom has upgraded its HSPA technology in such a way that enables transmission speeds to reach up to 14.4 Mbps for downloads and up to 1.4 Mbps for uploads. Mobile data transmission rates this high are unrivalled in Switzerland and rarely found elsewhere in Europe.

The volume of data transmitted on the Swisscom mobile network has doubled in the past eight months. With the use of smartphones such as the iPhone and Blackberry becoming more and more widespread, this trend is set to continue. Increasing transmission speeds for the WEF in Davos is Swisscom's first step toward an expansion of quick HSPA 14.4 technology throughout Switzerland. The months to come will see this expansion continue in those places where data traffic volumes are highest, such as in tourist areas and business centres. Every year, Swisscom invests over one billion Swiss francs in the expansion and modernisation of its infrastructure and equips it to meet future requirements.

HSPA: High Speed Package Access is a further development of the UMTS mobile communication standard. At present, HSPA enables speeds of up to 14.4 Mbps. Swisscom has equipped its entire UMTS network with turbo-speed HSPA technology over the course of the past year. Around 93% of the Swiss population can already enjoy mobile Internet access at bandwidths of up to 3.6 Mbps, in some places even up to 7.2 Mbps. HSPA 14.4 expansion will once again double the maximum possible transmission speed and allow Swisscom to offer its customers an even faster mobile Internet experience.

Berne, 29 January 2009 / 10:30