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The Swiss government is taking technical and sociological developments into account by extending the universal service. From 1 January 2003, all Swiss residents will be entitled to a digital connection as well as an analogue terminal as part of the universal service. The Bundesrat (Federal Council) has fixed a maximum price for the use of a digital connection. The upper price limits for national telephone calls have been reduced in view of recent price developments. The price of an analogue connection remains unchanged. The minimum quantity and features of public telephones (Publifone) have been...

The Eidgenössisches Departement für Umwelt, Verkehr, Energie, Kommunikation (Federal Department for Environment, Transport, Energy and Communication - UVEK) has dismissed a complaint by the Helvetia Nostra organisation against the public service TV station SRG SSR idée suisse. It ruled that the broadcaster's refusal to report the presentation of a cantonal petition for a referendum was compatible with the freedom of expression protected by Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR). In October 1997, Helvetia Nostra held a press conference, announcing that a petition entitled...

The Eidgenössische Departement für Umwelt, Verkehr, Energie und Kommunikation (Federal Department for the Environment, Transport, Energy and CommunicationUVEK) has decided to allow Tamedia AG to take over Zurich local radio station Radio 24 and local TV channel TeleZüri, both of which belong to radio pioneer Roger Schawinski's Belcom Group. The UVEK recognises that the takeover constitutes another step towards media concentration, a trend which it regrets. However, since many regional and national media will continue to report independently and from different viewpoints about the city of Zurich,...

The Koordinationsgruppe Informationsgesellschaft (Information Society Coordination Group - KIG) has published its third annual report on the state of the Information Society in Switzerland. It reports that, in the last twelve months, significant progress has been made in e-government as well as in the development of a legal framework for e-commerce and digital signatures. Projects such as "e-Tax-Swiss", "Guichet Virtuel" and "e-Voting" have all played their part. Various smaller projects relating to electronic communication with the authorities were also launched. Through the adoption of proposals...

The Swiss Bundesrat (Council of Ministers) has rejected complaints by two local radio stations, who wanted to broadcast their programmes unencrypted via the Hotbird3 satellite. The court of first instance (UVEK) granted the applications in principle, on condition that the signals were transmitted in encoded form. Otherwise listeners across central Europe and all over Switzerland would have been able to tune in. This would have been a clear breach of the licences awarded to both local radio stations. Under the UKW-Sendernetzplanung (FM transmitter network system), licences are restricted to a clearly-defined...