Prices for telephony services
According to the National Consumer Price Index issued by the Federal Statistical Office (FSO), which measures price trends on the basis of a basket of the principal consumer goods and services purchased by Swiss households, the overall index for telecommunications services declined by 0.7 percentage points between 2021 and 2022. The index for mobile telephone communications rose slightly since last year (+1.3%). Prices for combined fixed-line and mobile services, which are proving ever more popular with customers, have been falling for a number of years. They dropped by 2.2% between 2021 and 2022.
The mobile telephony prices covered by OFCOM's Statistical Observatory, which are based on the lowest rates offered by providers on the Swiss market, reveal considerable differences, however.
Regardless of the basket analysed, the least expensive deal can cost less than half as much as the most expensive one.
The most attractive package for low-level users in 2022 was provided by Yallo, starting at CHF 10.60, making it 2.3 times less expensive than Salt’s at CHF 24.30. For medium-level users, M-Budget’s package priced at CHF 20.10 is also 2.3 times cheaper than Swisscom’s at CHF 45.50. Finally, for customers with high usage requirements, the most inexpensive option from Yallo at CHF 25.60 costs almost half as much as Swisscom’s package at CHF 50.60.
Mobile telephony prices in Switzerland are still among the highest internationally for the medium-sized basket. This is confirmed by the Teligen price baskets published by the market research company Strategy Analytics, which are based on OECD methodology and take into account the most competitive products offered by the largest carriers in each country. They are below the OECD average for the large baskets, however, although more detail is needed to understand this finding fully.
The price basket for Switzerland factors in the three network operators Salt, Sunrise and Swisscom, as well as the secondary and tertiary brands Yallo and M-Budget. These include products and options from both the prepaid and contract segments. For a medium-use basket of voice and data connections (100 calls and 2 GB of data), customers in Switzerland paid almost CHF 6 per month more than the OECD-wide average in August 2022 (CHF 20.10 vs. CHF 14.40). In terms of the cheapest offer Switzerland comes in 29th and thus in the third containing the most expensive countries. Only six countries have higher prices.
In terms of the price paid by a small user (30 calls and 500 MB of data), Switzerland was in the middle of the OECD countries, with an average price of around CHF 10.50. Even with its cheapest offer, Switzerland is still only in 24th place.
Customers with high usage requirements (unlimited calls and 20 GB of data) paid almost CHF 3 less per month in Switzerland than the OECD average (CHF 25.60 vs. CHF 28.20). This places Switzerland in the middle of the field at 16th place.
