Telecommunications – Swisscom boss Urs Schaeppi takes his hat off – News

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  • Swisscom is getting a new CEO: CEO Urs Schaeppi is leaving the company on June 1, 2022.
  • The Board of Directors has elected Chief Technology Officer Christoph Aeschlimann as his successor.
  • Schaeppi leaves with good business figures. In 2021, Swisscom implemented more and, thanks to special factors, earned significantly more.

Schaeppi was with Swisscom for 23 years – nine of which as CEO. At his own request, he is leaving the group on June 1, writes Swisscom in a statement. In 2013, after the death of Carsten Schloter, the Bern native took over the management of the largest Swiss telecom group.

Assessment by business editor Denise Joder-Schmutz


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The change at the top of Swisscom comes as a surprise. Last summer, the managing director of the telecom company was asked several times whether resignation was an option. The reason for this was the increased failure of the emergency numbers. The Swisscom boss was therefore under a lot of pressure. But at the time, 62-year-old Urs Schaeppi vehemently affirmed that he liked his job.

Apparently he didn’t like his job enough to stay until retirement. The exact reasons for his early resignation cannot be found in the press release. It only means that Schäppi is leaving at his own request. During his nine years as CEO, he played a key role in shaping Swisscom’s transformation from a telephone provider to a large digital IT company.

“In the past 23 years, Schaeppi has played a key role in shaping our company on the way from a telephone provider to an integrated ICT group,” said Michael Rechsteiner, Chairman of the Board of Directors. “Under Urs Schaeppi, Swisscom has positioned itself as an industry leader, further advanced digitization and developed Fastweb.”

In order to ensure a smooth transition, Schaeppi will be available to Swisscom in an advisory capacity from June 1st until the end of 2022 and will then tackle a new entrepreneurial phase. Urs Schaeppi will leave the Executive Committee on June 1, 2022.

Swisscom CEO got more wages


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Swisscom boss Urs Schaeppi received more wages in 2021 than in the previous year. Total remuneration rose by almost 6 percent to CHF 1.96 million. The variable share of success has increased, as can be seen from the telecom company’s annual report published on Thursday. In the previous year, Schaeppi had earned 1.85 million.

The Swisscom boss is traditionally one of the worst paid bosses of the largest listed Swiss companies. The entire Swisscom group management earned CHF 8.37 million last year, which was more than the previous year’s CHF 7.27 million.

His successor Christoph Aeschlimann has been Head of the Infrastructure, Network and IT Division and a member of the Swisscom Group Executive Board since 2019. The 45-year-old IT engineer should “successfully take the telecom group to the next level,” according to Rechsteiner.

More sales and profit

In operational terms, Swisscom grew last year and slightly exceeded market expectations. Overall, sales rose by 0.7 percent to CHF 11.18 billion. Operating profit before depreciation and amortization EBITDA improved by 2.2 percent to 4.48 billion Swiss francs. The bottom line is that Swisscom made a net profit of CHF 1.83 billion. That is 20 percent more than a year ago.

The main reason for the jump in profit is the revaluation of a Fastweb stake of 169 million francs. In addition, the sale of a company share in Belgium brought in a profit of 38 million francs. There was also a one-off income of 60 million from an adjustment to the pension fund.

Fiberglass is becoming more expensive

In addition, Swisscom is now cutting back its plans for expanding the fiber optic network. The background is a procedure by the Competition Commission (Weko). In December, after the Federal Administrative Court, the Federal Supreme Court also agreed and ruled that Swisscom was temporarily no longer allowed to lay fiber optic cables of the new type.

The fiber optic expansion will be significantly more expensive, writes the telecom group in its statement. So far, as is well known, the “Blue Giant” wanted to increase the number of fiber optic connections from a third of households and businesses by 1.5 million to around 60 percent by 2025. Now there are 500,000 fewer households. This would only cover 50 percent of the population.

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