Swisscom

Swisscom's $13+ billion revenue (CHF 11B in 2024, projected CHF 15-15.2B for 2025) demonstrates how state ownership (51% Swiss Confederation) enables infrastructure redundancy that pure private operators skip. The company reaches 87% of Switzerland's population with 5G+ (target: 90% by end-2025) and 54% with fiber (target: 75-80% by 2030), deploying cables to remote Alpine villages where customer density never justifies costs. This is path-dependent infrastructure - Switzerland's universal service mandate subsidizes unprofitable coverage, but geographic completeness creates competitive moat: competitors cannot match footprint economics. The December 31, 2024 acquisition of Vodafone Italia (completing regulatory approvals) demonstrates territorial expansion beyond saturated home market, instantly creating Italy's leading infrastructure operator (53% FTTH coverage, 87% 5G). Combined Fastweb-Vodafone reaches 53% of Italian households with fiber and 87% with 5G, both 14% YoY growth. Revenue jumped 36.9% in first nine months 2025 to CHF 11.2 billion (Vodafone Italia consolidation), with EBITDAaL rising 17.3% to CHF 3.8 billion. Swisscom invests CHF 3.1-3.2 billion capex in 2025 (CHF 1.7B in Switzerland), gradually decommissioning copper networks as fiber reaches scale. The company proves that in telecom infrastructure, government ownership enables patient capital (fiber buildouts with 20+ year paybacks) but creates moral hazard - the merged entity now represents significant fraction of Swiss/Italian telecom infrastructure, making failure economically unacceptable.