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Another defeat for Swisscom: the Federal Administrative Court ruled in favor of Sunrise in the dispute over interest payments.
In November, the Federal Supreme Court ruled that Swisscom was not allowed to expand its fiber optic network with new technology for the time being. Now there is another defeat in court: The Federal Administrative Court has ruled in favor of Sunrise in the dispute over interest payments from Swisscom. Sunrise had objected to the way Swisscom charged interest on claims for excessive prices for access to the Swisscom copper network.
Swisscom wanted to pay interest on the claims based on a reference rate. The interest calculation model based on the 12-month Swiss franc Libor rate plus a surcharge of 1.3 percent had been used for years.
In April 2019, however, Sunrise called for a new interest rate regulation based on the weighted average cost of capital (WACC) in the telecommunications industry. Interest on clawbacks based on the Libor reference interest rate meant that due to negative interest rates, clawbacks practically did not bear interest, Sunrise argued.
Because the two telecom companies could not come to an agreement, Sunrise came to the Federal Communications Commission (Comcom). In an injunction, the latter ruled in favor of Sunrise. However, Swisscom took the case to the Federal Administrative Court.
Swisscom complaint dismissed
The Federal Administrative Court has now rejected Swisscom’s complaint. According to the judgment, the lower court (Comcom) “exercised its discretion correctly by referring to the WACC of the industry.” The judgment cannot be appealed to the federal court and is therefore final.
In a statement, Sunrise expressed its satisfaction with the verdict: With interest based on the weighted average cost of capital in the telecommunications industry, Sunrise is compensated for the fact that the money could not have been invested otherwise because Swisscom prices were too high. At the same time, the WACC interest rate is intended to prevent Swisscom from charging too high access prices and thereby depriving Sunrise of money for a while.
Sunrise did not want to disclose the sums involved. Swisscom also did not name any amounts. A company spokeswoman said that Swisscom regretted the judgment of the Federal Administrative Court and would adjust the contracts accordingly to the new interest rate regulation.