an advertisement . please help improve it by removing promotional content and inappropriate external links and by adding encyclopedic content written from a neutral point of view . november 2008 learn how and when to remove this template message swisscom ag type aktiengesellschaft traded as six scmn industry telecommunications founded 1 january 1998 ; 18 years ago 1998 01 01 bern switzerland headquarters worblaufen switzerland key people urs schaeppi ceo hansueli loosli chairman products fixedline & mobile telephony fixedline & mobile internet digital television it services & networking solutions revenue chf 11.678 billion 2015 1 operating income chf 2.012 billion 2015 1 profit chf 1.362 billion 2015 1 total assets chf 20.932 billion end 2014 2 total equity chf 5.242 billion end 2015 owner swiss government number of employees 21.637 fte end 2015 1 website www.swisscom.ch swisscom ag is a major telecommunications provider in switzerland . 3 its headquarters are located at worblaufen near bern . 4 the swiss confederation owns 51.0 percent of swisscom ag . 5 as of the end of 2015 swisscom had around 21 000 employees and generated revenues of chf 11 678 billions . 6 the swiss telegraph network was first set up in 1852 followed by telephones in 1877 . the two networks were combined with the postal service in 1920 to form the ptt postal telegraph and telephone . it struggled to develop a homegrown digital network with the first digital exchange launched in 1986 but pioneered the natel a mobile service in 1978 and the gsm based natel d offering a digital service in 1993 . the swiss telecommunications market was deregulated in 1997 . telecom ptt was spun off and rebranded swisscom ahead of a partial privatisation in 1998 which has left the swiss government with a 51 % stake . 25 % of swisscom mobile was sold to vodafone in 2001 . since then swisscom has bought a majority stake in italy s second biggest telecoms company fastweb and invested in areas such as hospitality support cloud services mobile solutions and billing . contents 1 history 1.1 pioneers 1852 1911 1.2 telephony takes off 1912 1965 1.3 space age communications 1966 1981 1.4 moving towards mobile in the 1980s 1.5 public company in the 21st century 1.6 modern times 2 organisation 2.1 switzerland 2.2 investments 2.3 international carrier services 2.4 internet of things iot 3 business areas and services 3.1 cocomment 3.2 hospitality services 3.3 cloud and data centers 3.4 new business fields 4 corporate responsibility 5 competition 5.1 connect network test 6 references 7 external links history edit logo history pioneers 1852 1911 edit switzerland s entry into the telecommunications era came in 1851 with the passage of legislation giving the swiss government control over development of a telegraph network throughout the country . the government s initial plans called for the creation of three primary telegraph lines as well as a number of secondary networks . in order to build equipment for the system the government established the atelier f d ral de construction des t l graphs federal workshop for the construction of telegraphs . in july 1852 the first leg of the country s telegraph system between st. gallen and zurich was operational . by the end of that year most of the country s main cities had been connected to the telegraph system . in 1855 the network was extended with the first underwater cable connecting winkel stansstad and bauen fl elen . night service was also launched that year starting in basel st. gallen and bellinzona . telegraph traffic took off in the late 1860s after the government reduced the cost of a 20 word message in 1867 . while telegraph traffic continued to rise in the following decade that technology was soon to be replaced by the telephone . switzerland s entry into the telephone age came in 1877 when the first experimental phone lines appeared starting with a line linking the post office building with the federal palace and then with a link using the existing telegraph line between bern and thun . the following year the government passed legislation establishing a monopoly on the country s telephone network . nonetheless private operators were allowed to bid for licenses in order to develop their local concessions . by 1880 switzerland s first private network had been created in zurich . this was a central system with the capacity for 200 lines . the first directory was also published that year and listed 140 subscribers . basel bern and geneva all debuted their own local networks between 1881 and 1882 . one year later the first inter city telephone line was established linking zurich s private exchange with winterthur s public system . yet the zurich company ran into difficulties by the mid 1880s . with its development falling behind the telephone concessions elsewhere in the country the federal government bought out the private operator paying just over chf 300 000 in 1886 . the national telephone network continued to expand . telephone numbers were introduced in 1890 replacing the initial system whereby callers had been able to ask for their party by name . the number of switzerland s telephone subscribers steadily grew particularly after the inauguration of a new telephone central capable of handling nearly 4 000 lines . by 1896 switzerland s telephone network had been extended to include all of switzerland s cantons . by 1900 the country had also established its first international connection between basel and stuttgart germany . switzerland began testing its first public phone booths in 1904 . initially restricted to local calls the public telephones allowed national calling for the first time in 1907 . 7 telephony takes off 1912 1965 edit the first automatic telephone exchanges were installed by private networks in 1912 . by 1917 a semi automatic exchange had been installed in zurich hottingen . the following year in order to extend the country s phone system into rural parts of switzerland the government began promoting the establishment of party line systems . in 1920 the swiss government created the swiss ptt combining the country s postal services and telegraph and telephone systems into a single government controlled entity . development of the country s telephone system now came entirely under the purview of the government . in 1921 the ptt launched its own directory inquiries service . the following year the ptt debuted the first fully automatic public telephone exchange in zurich hottingen . the ptt began telex services in 1934 and by 1936 had linked up the cities of zurich basel and bern which were then linked via zurich to the international market . in the meantime the ptt also became responsible for developing the company s radio broadcasting and later television broadcasting services . switzerland s telephone system took off in the years following world war ii . by 1948 the country boasted 500 000 telephone subscribers . over the following decade that number doubled . in 1957 the ptt added computer capacity in order to handle billing for its fast growing network . through this period the state owned organisation had continued to invest in automating its telephone network and in 1959 switzerland became the first country to feature a fully automated telephone exchange system . 7 space age communications 1966 1981 edit the original telstar the first telecommunications satellite to be launched into space . telstar the first telecommunications satellite was launched into space in 1962 . at expo 1964 in lausanne the first exchange to permit international direct dialing was unveiled . in 1974 the leuk satellite earth station went into operation in the canton of wallis . moving towards mobile in the 1980s edit automation enabled the ptt to introduce pulse metering for local calls in 1963 priced at 10 centimes per pulse . in 1966 the ptt introduced automated international dialing services initially from montreux . international direct dialing was rolled out to the rest of the country over the following decade achieving full coverage in 1982 . as the ptt s subscriber base topped two million at the beginning of the 1970s the country introduced a new seven digit phone numbering system . by then the ptt was also becoming interested in a number of new technologies . in 1970 the ptt led a workgroup including a number of prominent swiss telecommunications players in an effort to create an integrated digital telecommunications network ifs . originally intended to be rolled out by the middle that decade the first ifs exchange did not become operational until 1986 . other technologies proved more accessible to the ptt . in 1976 the company debuted facsimile transmission services from its customer service centers . two years later the ptt established its first mobile telephone network called natel for nationales autotelefonnetz . although rudimentary with calls limited to just three minutes coverage restricted to five unlinked local networks and often difficult to establish connections the natel network marked one of the earliest and most successful attempts at making telephony mobile . in 1980 the ptt enabled facsimile transmission for the home and office market . by then its subscriber base had risen to nearly three million fixed line users . in 1983 the ptt launched its next generation mobile network natel b which among other enhancements reduced the size of mobile telephone equipment to a 25 pound unit that fit in its own carrying case . in 1985 the first fibre optic cable was laid between berne and neuch tel. other new technologies appeared in the mid 1980s including the telepac data transmission network rolled out in 1983 and the first videoconferencing services launched in 1985 . in 1987 the ptt upgraded the natel network again . the natel c network provided more extensive coverage digitally transmitted sound and smaller telephone sizes . the new network permitted mobile telephony to take off in switzerland and by 1992 the country had some 200 000 subscribers on the natel network . in the 1990s the ptt faced the loss of its telecommunications monopoly . as a run up to the coming deregulation of the telecommunications market the ptt put into place a new corporate strategy separating its postal and telecommunications operations into two focused units . the telecommunications business became known as swiss telecom ptt . new telecommunications legislation was passed in 1992 that stripped away the government s monopoly status starting with the equipment sector and digital data communications services although maintaining the company s de facto hold on the local telephone market for most of the remainder of the decade . as part of its repositioning telecom ptt invested more heavily in mobile telephony business launching the new gsm based natel d network in 1992 . that network which also provided customers with compatibility throughout most of europe marked the start of a new era for the telephone market as callers adopted the new technology . by then end of the 1990s nearly two million customers had connected to the natel d network . 7 public company in the 21st century edit one of the smallest of the european telecommunications companies telecom ptt began to seek international growth forming the short lived unisource partnership with the netherlands kpn and sweden s telia . unisource attempted to enter a number of markets around the world including malaysia and india but finally collapsed after years of losses . a more successful expansion effort came with telecom ptt s entry into the internet as the company set up service provider blue window later bluewin which became the country s leading internet service provider isp . the company had also introduced digital isdn subscriber services building up its subscriber base from 250 000 in 1996 to more than two million by 2003 . in 1997 the swiss government passed new legislation fully deregulating the swiss telecommunications market . as part of that move telecom ptt was spun off as a special