Lenz & Staehelin secures major win for Swisscom at the Federal Supreme Court in competition law proceeding

Lenz & Staehelin has been defending Swisscom, Switzerland’s largest telecom provider against a multi-million competition law fine. 

In 2015, the Swiss Competition Commission (ComCo) had imposed a fine of CHF 7.9 million on Swisscom for an alleged abuse of a dominant position. In 2021, the Federal Administrative Court mostly confirmed this decision while reducing the fine slightly to CHF 7.5 million. According to the Federal Administrative Court, Swisscom had enforced excessive prices on Sunrise and the Swiss Post and conducted a so-called margin squeeze.

The Federal Supreme Court has now uphold an appeal of Swisscom. It ruled in a landmark decision on excessive pricing and margin squeeze that the prices charged by Swisscom were neither forced on Sunrise and the Post nor excessive. It further held that there was no margin squeeze, concluding that Swisscom did not abuse a dominant position in the case at hand and the sanction against Swisscom is to be lifted completely.

Lenz & Staehelin represented Swisscom. The team consisted of Marcel Meinhardt, Ueli Weber and Tizia Scharf (all Competition).