I recently read an article that touted residential 25-gigabit fiber in Switzerland. The article made it sound like the product was available everywhere, and the reality is different, but it is still a great story.

The fiber network being discussed is funded and owned by Swisscom. The company is owned 51% by the Swiss government and 49% by investors. During nationwide discussions in 2008 about the best future path for building fiber in the country, Swisscom pushed for the idea of building multiple fibers whenever new fiber is built. The decision was made to adopt what was called a four-fiber point-to-point model, which means four separate fiber paths built between the network core and each home and business. This would allow for an open-access network with four separate ISPs getting direct layer 1 fiber access to each customer.

In 2020, Swisscom changed its mind and decided to pivot to a point-to-multipoint using splitters where multiple ISPs share bandwidth on the same fiber, which is the traditional open-access architecture that has been used in many communities in this country. This is not entirely surprising since Swisscom doesn’t just own the fiber network, but is also the incumbent telecommunications company that still sells ISP services.

Init7, a small ISP, challenged the change in direction and filed a complaint with COMCO, the regulator in Switzerland. COMCO issued a preliminary decision at the end of 2020 that Swisscom needed to return to the four-fiber model. Swisscom appealed to a federal court, which sided with Init7. In April 2024, COMCO fined Swisscom 18 million francs for being anticompetitive and finalized the ruling that mandated a return to the four-fiber open-access model. Swisscom has now completed fiber construction to over half of the passings in the county and has a goal to pass 75% to 80% of passings by 2030.

The primary ISP offering 25-gigabit service on the Swisscom network is Init7, which uses PON electronics from Zyxel. The company markets under the brand name Fiber 7. The 25-gigabit product is priced at 65.75 francs ($82.73 per month) or 777 francs ($992.70 per year).

There are only a handful of ISPs around the world that widely deploy 25-gigabit broadband technology for residential service. In the U.S., there are now multiple fiber ISPs with products as fast as 5 to 8 Gbps. I have to wonder if there is any practical noticeable difference between these products and 25-gigabit broadband.

Telcom Liechtenstein announced the launch of a nationwide 25-gigabit symmetrical residential product in December 2025. The ISP is using Nokia’s 25G platform. Liechtenstein is unique in that it is one of the few countries that has near-universal fiber coverage. The underlying fiber network is owned by Liechtenstein Kraftwerke, the national power utility, which offers open-access to multiple ISPs.

NURO Hikari in Japan announced the launch of 25-gigabit residential service in parts of Tokyo in March. This network is utilizing electronics provided by So-net, a subsidiary of the Sony Group. The 25-Gbps product is priced at 6,480 yen ($41.08) per month.