Time and again, the most important telephone lines in Switzerland fail: the emergency numbers for the police, fire brigade and ambulance. Swisscom, the largest telecommunications group in Switzerland, is responsible for this.
Less than a month ago, the emergency numbers got out again. Just on one of the stormiest nights of summer. CEO Urs Schaeppi (61) explains the breakdown in a video statement from Swisscom. “We made a software update on a platform that actually has nothing to do with the emergency call,” says Schaeppi.
Too complex, too fragile
In plain language: The Swisscom networks are so complex that the engineers themselves do not know how maintenance work will affect them. Schaeppi explains it in a company video as follows: “It’s similar to a traffic jam that occurs in St. Gallen because a street in Bern is closed.” An unpredictable domino effect.
Schaeppi promises improvement: The system must be simpler and more robust. Immediate measures have already been taken in the network area. Because the CEO makes it unmistakably clear: “These disruptions are unacceptable and have shaken me and the whole of Swisscom.”
Good business figures for the first half of the year
Swisscom also presented the half-year figures today. It increased at all levels in the first half of the year. Overall, sales rose by 2.6 percent to 5.58 billion Swiss francs. In the Swiss core business, sales increased slightly by 0.5 percent to 4.10 billion.