Amid challenges in the Swiss telecom sector, Swisscom shifts focus to Italy’s energy market, with CEO Christoph Aeschlimann steering clear of acquisition rumors.

Swisscom is struggling with falling sales in Switzerland’s telecoms sector. On the other hand, the business of its subsidiary Fastweb in Italy is growing significantly. And Swisscom wants to continue to grow in its southern neighbor.

“We are considering entering the Italian energy market,” explained Swisscom CEO Christoph Aeschlimann at Thursday’s Group’s annual media conference in Zurich. This market is fully liberalized in Italy, and there are “exciting opportunities.” Conversely, the energy provider Enel also entered the telecoms market in Italy last year.

According to experts, this is interesting because customers can purchase electricity and telecom services from one provider.
The CEO did not comment on whether Swisscom is also looking to make acquisitions in Italy – rumors have been circulating in the media that the “blue giant” is interested in Vodafone Italy. “Fastweb is a success story; we are concentrating on organic growth.”

In Switzerland, where the telecoms sector is shrinking, Swisscom wants to cut costs further to offset the decline, as CFO Eugen Steinmetz added. “We are experiencing price erosion in telecommunications services in Switzerland,” said CEO Aeschlimann. “We want to make net savings of at least CHF 50 million again in this country in 2024,” he said. In 2023, the figure was 60 million.

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