Business model for superfast rural NGA in Switzerland (iimt Executive MBA and Diploma Papers)

The telecommunications sector is facing major challenges. The migration from legacy telecom services based on the copper or coaxial infrastructure to the superfast next generation fibre optical access networks requires huge investments. Transition to the new architecture is driven by the constant growth of internet bandwidth, new innovative services, new business models and digitalization of legacy services. Due to the uncertainty related to the potential regulation or suitable business models for the new networks, potential investors, market players and end-users are unsure what would be the right thing to do. The conditions for a successful business model for the new infrastructure and services are highly country- and region specific and thus the experiences gained in other countries are very difficult to replicate directly in Switzerland. Factors like customer density, ARPU potential, cost of capital, construction and operating costs have to be modelled and applied on the regional level to draw conclusions of the potential feasibility. Asia and other emerging economic areas have taken globally a head start in building fibre networks, mainly driven by the new competitive telecom operators. Many emerging economies in Eastern Europe and Asia who decide to rebuild their national broadband infrastructure, decide frequently to skip copper and to go directly for the next generation fibre to the home (FTTH) networks. In contrary; in developed economies with adequate broadband coverage the incumbents often tend to promote the lifetime extension of their legacy copper access networks based on xDSL technologies. In Switzerland the nationwide FTTH discussion and projects were triggered by the municipal electricity utilities, who started to construct and market actively their fibre networks and new innovative services in the major Swiss cities.