At the request of the Federal Department of the Environment, Transport, Energy and Communications (DETEC), the Federal Council has held discussions on the development of broadband in Switzerland.

From 1 January 2010, the Federal Office of Communications will take up from the Federal Office of Energy the responsibility for the enforcement of the Ordinance on Electromagnetic Compatibility (OEMC). OFCOM will therefore be responsible for issues relating to interference due to electromagnetic fields. Today the Federal Council gave the green light for this transfer. It also approved the complete revision of the ordinance to harmonise it with the European legislation.

The telecommunications statistics 2008 present the results for the eleventh year of a liberalized telecommunications market in Switzerland. Notable developments include the continued growth in broadband connections in Switzerland and the decrease by 3% of the total duration of calls established from the fixed and mobile network.

The round table on rolling out the optical fibre network to homes (Fibre To The Home – FTTH) and the corresponding working groups are producing concrete results: the major players are in agreement on uniform technical standards. Hence there are no longer any technical barriers to the rapid expansion of the fibre-optic network. In addition, coordination will be able to prevent the parallel construction of new networks, by laying multiple fibres in every building (multiple fibre model). At the same time the participants in the round table are agreed that all providers must have access to the fibre-optic network under the same conditions, in order to protect end-users' freedom of choice.