Also effective 1 March 2026, Switzerland requires mobile-network operators to guarantee that emergency calls, public-service broadcasting and basic internet remain available for at least one hour during a nationwide power outage. The ordinance stipulates that 99 % of customers in every municipality must retain mobile access; restrictions may only be applied where strictly necessary to protect the grid. The reform follows supply-security debates sparked by the 2022-23 European energy crunch. For business travellers and expatriates the rule lowers the risk of being cut off from company VPNs, travel-risk alerts or digital boarding passes during rolling blackouts. Enterprises running high-volume IoT fleets—from vehicle-sharing schemes to temporary construction sensors—gain legal assurance that connectivity will not disappear without warning. Operators Swisscom, Sunrise and Salt have installed battery or generator back-up at more than 3,400 base stations and implemented traffic-shaping algorithms that prioritise voice over data when grid power fails. The Federal Office of Communications will audit compliance annually; fines for non-compliance can reach CHF 1 million per incident. Mobility managers should nevertheless keep contingency plans—such as satellite messengers for critical staff—because the ordinance covers only the first hour of an outage.
Source: blue News
