Init7 (Schweiz) AG
 | |
| Private (Aktiengesellschaft) | |
| ISIN | 🆔 |
| Industry | Telecommunications |
| Founded 📆 | 19 January 2000 |
| Founder 👔 | Fredy Künzler |
| Headquarters 🏙️ | , , Switzerland |
Area served 🗺️ | Switzerland |
Key people | André Keller (Chairman) Fredy Künzler (CEO and board member) Volker Karbach (board member) Anita Meyer, Jacqueline Telley Maag, Florian Jörger, Alex Ribordy (management board)[1] |
| Products 📟 | Fibre-to-the-home internet access, carrier Ethernet, IP transit |
| Members | |
Number of employees | |
| 🌐 Website | www |
| 📇 Address | |
| 📞 telephone | |
Init7 (Schweiz) AG is a Swiss internet service provider based in Winterthur. Founded in 2000 by Fredy Künzler, it provides internet access to residential and business customers and wholesale services to other carriers.[2] The company has been involved in several regulatory and legal disputes with Swisscom, most prominently over the network architecture of Swisscom's fibre-optic rollout.[3]
History
Init7 was founded in Winterthur on 19 January 2000 by Fredy Künzler, who has served as its chief executive for most of its history.[2][4] From 2008 Künzler temporarily handed operational management to Emanuel Kleindienst to work on a content delivery network for the IPTV service Zattoo, before returning to the role.[5][6] Künzler is also a member of the Winterthur city parliament for the Social Democratic Party.[4][7]
Until the mid-2010s Init7 served mainly business and wholesale customers. In May 2014 it launched Fiber7, a residential fibre service with symmetrical 1 Gbit/s bandwidth for CHF 777 per year, considerably below the prices of comparable offers at the time.[8] In December 2015 Init7 acquired the fibre provider Easyzone.[9] In May 2021 it added 10 Gbit/s and 25 Gbit/s connections at the same price; the comparison service Moneyland described the 25 Gbit/s product as likely the fastest residential internet subscription available worldwide at the time.[10]
In December 2023 Init7 took over the internet provider Origon following the retirement of its founder.[11] In August 2024 it introduced Ethernet7, a carrier Ethernet service for organisations with multiple sites and for resellers.[12]
Operations
Init7 operates its own IP backbone under autonomous system number AS13030, as well as its own access electronics.[13] For the connection to customers' homes it rents dark fibres in the open-access fibre networks built in Switzerland by Swisscom and municipal utilities, which under the industry's agreed four-fibre point-to-point (P2P) model give each household a dedicated fibre that competitors can lease.[14] By 2022 the company had invested an eight-figure sum in its own network equipment.[4] Where it cannot use its own equipment, Init7 also resells access over third-party platforms.[15]
Legal and regulatory disputes
Peering
Init7 and Swisscom agreed a settlement-free peering arrangement in 2011, for which Swisscom later sought payment.[16] In April 2020 the Federal Administrative Court ruled in Init7's favour, overturning a decision of the Federal Communications Commission (ComCom).[17] In January 2025 ComCom ordered Swisscom to interconnect with Init7 without charge.[18]
Fibre network architecture
In February 2020 Swisscom announced that it would build new fibre connections in a point-to-multipoint (P2MP) topology, in which a single feeder fibre is split near the buildings, rather than the four-fibre P2P model.[3] In August 2020 Init7 filed a complaint with the Competition Commission (WEKO). Künzler argued that under P2MP competitors could only offer the bandwidths Swisscom specified, effectively turning Init7 into a reseller of Swisscom's product.[19][20]
WEKO opened an investigation in December 2020 and ordered a provisional halt to P2MP construction. The Federal Administrative Court upheld the measures in September 2021, and the Federal Supreme Court dismissed Swisscom's appeal in November 2022.[3] Swisscom stated that around 400,000 connections built in P2MP were blocked and began converting most of them to P2P.[3] SRF and the Neue Zürcher Zeitung both characterised the case as a "David and Goliath" dispute between the small Winterthur provider and the market leader.[3][7] In December 2021 Swisscom proposed a virtual layer-1 access product (V-ALO) to WEKO as a compromise. Init7 rejected it, with Künzler arguing that it was limited to 10 Gbit/s connections, was in effect a layer-2 product and would leave Swisscom in control of which products competitors could offer.[21][4] Künzler described fibre infrastructure as a public service and said Init7 had won at every court level up to that point.[4]
In its final decision of 4 December 2023, WEKO imposed conditions on Swisscom's network build and a fine of about CHF 18.4 million. In October 2026 the Federal Administrative Court overturned that decision, finding that Swisscom did not hold a dominant position in the relevant market; the ruling can be appealed to the Federal Supreme Court.[22]
Website blocking
In early 2026 public prosecutors in the cantons of Vaud and Valais ordered Swiss internet providers to block certain websites at the DNS level. While Swisscom and Sunrise complied, Init7 refused and challenged the orders, arguing that the Swiss Criminal Procedure Code provides no general legal basis for such blocks.[23] Künzler was fined CHF 6,000 for non-compliance and appealed. In May 2026 a Vaud court lifted one of the orders, finding no plausible link between the blocked sites and the alleged offences, without ruling on the general legality of such blocks.[24]
See also
References
- ↑ "Init7 (Schweiz) AG". Commercial Register of the Canton of Zurich. Central Business Name Index (Zefix). Retrieved 1 November 2026.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 "Init7 feiert 25-jähriges Bestehen in Winterthur". Netzwoche (in Deutsch). 1 April 2025.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 "Swisscom erleidet Niederlage im Glasfaserstreit vor Bundesgericht". SRF (in Deutsch). 29 November 2022.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 Vogt, Reto (13 January 2022). "Init7: "Das Glasfasernetz ist Service Public"". Inside IT (in Deutsch).
- ↑ "Fredy Künzler gibt operative Leitung von Init Seven ab". Netzwoche (in Deutsch).
- ↑ "Wechsel beim Provider Init7". Netzwoche (in Deutsch).
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 Häberli, Stefan (25 February 2022). "«Irgendwann sagte ich mir: Ich muss mich nicht vor der grossen Swisscom fürchten»". Neue Zürcher Zeitung (in Deutsch).
- ↑ "Fiber7-Test: Das schnellste Internet der Schweiz". PCtipp (in Deutsch).
- ↑ "Fiber7 bringt neues 300-Mbit/s-Angebot". IT Reseller (in Deutsch). 2 June 2016.
- ↑ Beyeler, Ralf (27 May 2021). "Init7 lanciert das wohl schnellste Internet-Abo der Welt". Moneyland (in Deutsch).
- ↑ "Init7 übernimmt Internet-Provider Origon". Netzwoche (in Deutsch). 12 December 2023.
- ↑ "Init7 lanciert Ethernet7 für Unternehmen und Reseller". IT Reseller (in Deutsch). 21 August 2024.
- ↑ "Init7 (Switzerland) Ltd. (AS13030)". PeeringDB. Retrieved 1 November 2026.
- ↑ "Swisscom unterliegt vor Bundesverwaltungsgericht gegen die Weko". Netzwoche (in Deutsch). 6 October 2021.
- ↑ "Other services". Init7. Retrieved 1 November 2026.
- ↑ Init7 (Schweiz) AG v. Swisscom (Schweiz) AG (Federal Administrative Court 22 April 2020). Text
- ↑ "Init7 gewinnt Peering-Prozess gegen Swisscom". IT Reseller (in Deutsch). 30 April 2020.
- ↑ "ComCom verknurrt Swisscom zu Zero-Settlement-Peering mit Init7". IT Reseller (in Deutsch). 7 January 2025.
- ↑ "Swisscom soll beim Glasfaser-Netzausbau die Konkurrenz behindern". SRF (in Deutsch). 14 August 2020.
- ↑ "Glasfaser-Ausbau: Init7 klagt gegen Swisscom". IT Reseller (in Deutsch). 17 August 2020.
- ↑ "Init7 nicht kompromissbereit im Glasfaserstreit mit der Swisscom". Nau.ch (in Deutsch). Keystone-SDA. 13 January 2022.
- ↑ "Bundesverwaltungsgericht gibt Swisscom im Glasfaser-Streit recht". Moneycab (in Deutsch). AWP. 14 October 2026.
- ↑ Bodoky, Florian (29 May 2026). "Network blocking case: Init7 wins in court". Galaxus.
- ↑ "Update: Init7 erzielt gerichtlichen Erfolg gegen Netzsperre". Netzwoche (in Deutsch). 29 May 2026.
External links
Category:Internet service providers of Switzerland
Category:Telecommunications companies of Switzerland
Category:Companies based in Winterthur
Category:Telecommunications companies established in 2000
Category:Swiss companies established in 2000
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