Tag Archives: Business

A press conference to announce the results of the auction was held on Friday (© KEYSTONE / ANTHONY ANEX) The Swiss government has raised CHF380 million ($379 million) from auctioning fifth-generation (5G) mobile radio frequencies, it said on Friday. The three Swiss main providers, Swisscom, Sunrise Communications and privately owned Salt, each received part of the spectrum after newcomer Dense Air dropped out of the...

Left to right: board chair Swiss Entrepreneurs Foundation Urs Berger (Mobiliar), foundation managing director Peter Staehli, Johann Schneider-Ammann, Didier Denat (CS), Lukas Gähwiler (UBS) Start-ups and innovative small and medium-sized businesses are to be encouraged to stay in Switzerland thanks to a new fund of up to CHF500 million ($499 million). The initiative, from Swiss Entrepreneurs Foundationexternal link...

Sunrise had 3.4 million customers in 2017, including 2.4 million mobile phone customers (© KEYSTONE / THOMAS DELLEY) Switzerland’s Sunrise Communications Group has confirmed it is in talks to buy Liberty Global’s cable operator UPC Switzerland. The company said in a statementexternal link on Tuesday: “Sunrise confirms it is in discussions with Liberty Global regarding a possible acquisition of UPC Schweiz. Sunrise will...

The SKS consumer group says there are enough rules regarding unsolicited phone calls in Switzerland, but they are not properly enforced (© KEYSTONE / GAETAN BALLY) According to a consumer group, over 18 million unsolicited telephone calls are made every month in Switzerland. The SKS consumer group for German-speaking regionsexternal link has addressed the problem of unsolicited phone calls in a letter sent to a Swiss...

Overnight stays in Swiss Alpine resorts have increased for four consecutive seasons since winter 2016/17, with summer destinations doing better than winter destinations. Lucerne topped an international study of 145 resorts. Overnights in the Swiss Alpine region grew by 5% in 2017 and 3.3% in 2018, according to a study, BAK Topindexexternal link, by the BAK Economics research institute. The Topindex looks at the...

Bicycle couriers have been offered protection against lower-paid competitors. (© KEYSTONE / CHRISTIAN BEUTLER) Swiss bicycle couriers have signed a ‘Europe-first’ collective bargaining agreement deal aimed at protecting them from cheaper rivals, such as the food delivery service Uber Eats. The courier employer’s association Swissmessengerlogistics (SML) negotiated the contract with the trade union Syndicomexternal link...

Uncertainty about Switzerland’s framework agreement with the EU is fueling more company lobbying in Brussels. (Keystone) Swiss companies have sharply increased their lobbying in Brussels in the face of uncertain relations with the European Union. Switzerland has more companies lobbying in Brussels than many other European countries, writes the SonntagsBlick newspaper, citing the EU’s latest transparency registerexternal...

A Volkswagen employee maneuvers a steel coil in a factory in Emden, Germany The European Union is imposing limits on steel coming into the bloc from Saturday in response to US President Donald Trump’s metals tariffs. The measures will also affect Swiss steel exports to the EU. The EU said on Fridayexternal link that it is introducing new measures to prevent steel produced for the US market from flooding into Europe...

Not quite 10% walk to work in Switzerland; more than half drive. Nine out of ten employees in Switzerland – or four million people total – commuted to work last year, most of them to another municipality, and most by car. In 2017, the average one-way Swiss commute was 15 kilometres (9.3 miles) and took 30.6 minutes, reported the Federal Statistical Officeexternal link on Tuesday. Some 71% of commuters traveled to...

The state-owned Swiss telecoms operator has branched out into blockchain technology. Daniel Haudenschild has stepped down as Chief Executive Officer of Swisscom Blockchain with immediate effect. The state-owned telecommunications group gave no reason for the shock move by the top manager and shareholder of its blockchain advisory unit. News of Haudenshild’s departure clearly came out of the blue for the Swiss blockchain...