Swisscom

Swisscom AG is a major telecommunications provider in Switzerland. Along with Swiss Post, it is a successor company to the former state-owned PTT (Post, Telegraph and Telephone). Its headquarters are located at Worblaufen near Bern. The Swiss Confederation owns 51.0 percent of Swisscom AG. As of the end of 2014, Swisscom had around 21,000 employees and generated revenues of approximately CHF 12 billions.

Swisscom was ranked 20th in the recent list of the Global 100 Most Sustainable Corporations in the World.

History

The age of the pioneers (1852-1911)

The launch of the first telegraph service between St. Gallen and Zurich in 1852 marked the birth of telecommunications in Switzerland. The invention of the telephone by Alexander Graham Bell in 1876 gave new impetus to the field. By 1896, the telephone had been introduced in all Swiss cantons.

Telephony takes off (1912-1965)

In 1917, the first semi-automatic telephone switchboard went into operation in Zurich-Hottingen. By 1948, Switzerland had 500,000 telephone subscribers. There were 1 million subscribers by 1959, the year in which the Swiss telephone network became the first fully automated network in the world.