Switzerland

Details

  • Date: 5/22/2012

Hunger for data persists 

Interviewee:
  • Hansueli Loosli, Chairman of the Board of Directors at Swisscom

What are your residential customers’ greatest needs?

Hansueli Loosli: The telecommunications world is becoming increasingly complex. Our customers therefore want us to accompany them in the digital world, sense their needs, offer them the right products and services to meet those needs and keep those as simple as possible. We want to offer our customers excellent customer service and the best network while also continuously expanding our range of products and services such as Swisscom TV, for instance.

And what special needs do corporate customers have?

Hansueli Loosli: In principle, the needs of corporate customers aren’t any different than those of residential customers. Having a provider that is both highly reliable and trustworthy is particularly important to them when it comes to securely storing data, for example. If breakdowns could endanger their own business, customers will look for a reliable, stable partner for the long term.

To what extent can you make international developments and insights work to meet your customers’ needs?

Hansueli Loosli: Of course we keep a close eye on international developments. Switzerland has its own peculiarities, however. Swiss customers, for example, appreciate high quality and good service and are also ready to pay a bit more for those.

The past few years have seen convergence become immensely important in the telecommunications industry. Swisscom, like its rivals, offers television, telephony and Internet. How do you feel about the current market? Will you make any major investments in the fiber-optic network?

Hansueli Loosli: Swisscom is continuously expanding its broadband networks throughout Switzerland in order to achieve ongoing improvements for customers both in terms of performance and service quality. This year alone we’re investing CHF 1.7 billion in our Swiss operations, that’s an increase of CHF 100 million. In the years to come we’re expecting investments to remain at a similarly high level. In the medium term we plan to connect 30% of Swiss homes and businesses directly to the fiber-optic network. In other areas we aim to further enhance network performance and improve service quality using an optimal blend of fixed and mobile technologies.

Do Swisscom’s plans include a shift from being a provider of technology to being a provider of content?

Hansueli Loosli: Since technology and content are merging to an ever greater degree in today’s multimedia world, access to attractive content is becoming more and more important. Our stake in Cinetrade lets us offer our customers attractive, exclusive sports programs via Swisscom TV, computers and smartphones alike. Swisscom TV, for example, also has integrated apps that give customers information about the weather or the latest news.

Which of your employees’ skills do you want to promote in particular?

Hansueli Loosli: We want to cultivate our culture of transparency and trust while promoting personal initiative to an even greater degree. They should always dare to tackle new things and even accept the fact that they might make a mistake. Experience has shown me that Swisscom employees identify very strongly with the company and its values.

 

 

What is your outlook for the telecom market of the future?

 

Hansueli Loosli: Like in the past, the market will continue to undergo dynamic changes. The hunger for data will persist which is why we are making large investments to expand our infrastructure even further. At the same time, price erosion will continue. In 2011 alone, prices at Swisscom dropped by over CHF 500 million. Nowadays we aren’t just facing domestic competition, we have to keep up with international rivals like Google, Apple & Co. That means we have to tap new areas of business to compensate for the decline in our traditional business.

 

 

Interview: Simone Glarner, Marketing & Communications