Capital expenditure

Capital expenditure

Swisscom remains committed to maintaining the high quality and availability of its network infrastructures. In Switzerland this involves making targeted investments in ultra-fast broadband network expansion, migrating to an all-IP-based infrastructure, and ensuring a state-of-the-art mobile network.

In Italy, Fastweb operates a network comprising a proprietary fibre-optic network and a copper-based broadband access infrastructure. Fastweb is also systematically expanding this network infrastructure.

In CHF million, except where indicated201220132014Change
Fixed access & Infrastructure425410406–1.0%
Mobile access226271235–13.3%
Expansion of the fibre-optic network31729244050.7%
Customer driven16215918617.0%
Projects and others 1362384304–20.8%
Mobile frequencies360
Swisscom Switzerland1,8521,5161,5713.6%
Fastweb531695682–1.9%
Other operating segments1671952118.2%
Group Headquarters and elimination(21)(10)(28)180.0%
Total capital expenditure2,5292,396 22,436 21.7%
Thereof Switzerland1,9941,6861,7513.9%
Thereof foreign country535710685–3.5%
Total capital expenditure as % of net revenue22.221.020.8
1 Including All IP migration.
2 Excluding capital expenditure of CHF 24 million (2013: CHF 49 million; 2012: CHF 32 million) in real estate projects, for which sales contracts were concluded and the purchasers made payments in the same amount.

Capital expenditure incurred by ­Swisscom rose year-on-year by CHF 40 million or 1.7% to CHF 2,436 million, corresponding to 20.8% of net revenue (prior year: 21.0%). ­Swisscom Switzerland accounted for 64% of 2014 capital expenditure, while Fastweb accounted for 28% and other operating segments 8%.

Capital expenditure incurred by ­Swisscom Switzerland rose year-on-year by CHF 55 million or 3.6% to CHF 1,571 million, corresponding to 18.2% of net revenue (prior year: 17.9%). The increase is due to the expansion and upgrading of mobile and fixed network infrastructure with the latest technologies. By the end of 2014, ­Swisscom had connected more than 1.4 million homes and offices with ultra-fast broadband – from fibre-to-the-home (FTTH) to the latest fibre-optic technology such as fibre-to-the-street (FTTS), fibre-to-the-building (FTTB) and vectoring technology – and extended 4G/LTE coverage to 97% of the Swiss population.

By contrast, Fastweb reduced its capital expenditure year-on-year by CHF 13 million or 1.9% to CHF 682 million. This corresponds to a reduction of EUR 3 million or 0.5% to EUR 562 million in local currency terms and is mainly due to lower investment in the network infrastructure resulting in a ratio of capital expenditure to revenue of 33.3% (prior year: 34.4%). Around 33% of total capital expenditure is directly related to customer growth.

At CHF 211 million, capital expenditure incurred by other operating segments was CHF 16 million or 8.2% higher year-on-year, largely as a result of higher investment in the IT infrastructure of ­Swisscom IT Services.