Global Insight Perspective | |
Significance | Swisscom's new product bundle offers customers the opportunity to sign up for mobile and broadband services without the need for a fixed-line telephone service. |
Implications | The new product bundle will boost Swisscom's competitiveness in the Swiss telecoms market, helping the telco to wade off competition from rivals such as CableCom. |
Outlook | Swisscom joins the growing list of European telcos offering naked DSL, further reducing the urgency for an EU regulatory ruling on offering the service. |
Swiss telecoms group Swisscom has become the latest European telco to offer naked DSL services, offering customers the option of broadband internet without signing up for a fixed-line phone. In a statement, Swisscom said customers can combine its mobile subscription (NATEL) with the Bluewin DSL 3500 or DSL 5000 broadband access, without the need for a fixed-line phone connection, and saving them as much as 303 Swiss francs (US$252.34) a year. "Swisscom's new offering will appeal to customers who have no fixed-line phone connection, or have one but seldom use it, and yet still want high-speed internet access at home," the company said in a statement. "Doing without an analogue Economy Line connection will save them 25.25 Swiss francs a month, or 303 Swiss francs a year." Customers signing up for the new service bundle will still have access to supplementary services, such as Swisscom's IP TV service—Bluewin TV—or Combox pro.
Outlook and Implications
- Broadband Mobile Combo: Swisscom's package is the latest in a line of product offers that the company is using to entice clients in an attempt to wade off competition from rivals, such as CableCom. Customers choosing the new combo product will receive a single monthly bill for both connections, which will be billed according to the subscription selected. Swisscom said customers can choose from several of its NATEL subscriptions, including the NATEL Swiss liberty and NATEL pro packages for residential customers, plus NATEL business and NATEL CMN for business customers. Swisscom is also offering would-be customers its NATEL liberty rates, which entitle them to pay only 0.50 Swiss francs an hour for calls to the Swiss fixed network and the mobile network of Swisscom Mobile.
- The Naked DSL Trend: Despite an initial attempt by European telcos not to embrace naked DSL, the concept has now taken off, with telcos offering it as part of their product portfolio. Already, incumbent telcos in Finland, France, Hungary, Norway, Poland, and Sweden are offering naked DSL, invariably removing the need for an EU regulatory mandate to enforce the concept. However, naked DSL has yet to be rolled out across the whole region and regulators would be seeking powers to facilitate this (see Europe: 22 March 2007: The EU's New Regulatory Framework; Benefits, Opportunities and Risks for Telcos).