In Swiss households, fiber optic coverage increased by ten percent last year. Overall, in terms of coverage, Switzerland is well above the EU average, as a comparative European study on high-speed broadband coverage shows.
Almost 41 percent of Swiss households are now connected with fiber optics. Only the densely populated island state of Malta lies ahead of Switzerland in terms of coverage with high-speed broadband infrastructure. The comparative European study on high broadband coverage in 2019 once again gave Switzerland a very good rating, said Glasfaser Schweiz on Friday. The organization prepares the study annually in cooperation with the EU Commission.
In a European comparison, the values for Switzerland are above average across all technologies such as fiber optics, cable and mobile communications. When it comes to high-speed broadband connections with a performance of over 100 megabits per second (Mbits / s), Switzerland ranks second behind Malta with 98.6 percent.
The coverage of Swiss households with fiber optics increased by ten percent to 40.9 percent last year. That is significantly more than the EU average (33.5 percent), the message continues. In contrast to conventional copper cables, data is transmitted through the fiber optic network with light instead of current pulses. This massively increases the range and transmission speed.
Effort in NGA coverage
Glass fiber Switzerland describes the comparatively high degree of accessibility of rural areas with fewer than 100 inhabitants per square kilometer with what is known as NGA coverage (Next Generation Access) as very positive. These connections have a capacity of at least 30 Mbit / s. In Switzerland, the corresponding degree of coverage in rural areas is 93.8 percent according to the notification. In the EU it is 59.3 percent.
According to the announcement, the fact that Switzerland is doing well in Europe when it comes to high bandwidths has to do with the fact that infrastructure competition in this country is strong and triggers correspondingly high investment volumes.
Because people communicated more and more intensively and digital television or telemedicine are increasingly finding their way, more and more bandwidth is needed. Conventional telecom networks reached their capacity limits as a result, writes Glasfaser Schweiz on its website.
