Swisscom’s commitment

Swisscom’s long-term sponsorship activities are focused on promoting sport and cultural events to a wide audience. Therefore, Swisscom’s sponsorship activities are spread across all regions of Switzerland and appeal to a wide range of target groups.

Public Affairs

Swisscom Public Affairs fosters communication with the municipalities and cantons throughout Switzerland. The team members are organised locally, primarily provide information on infrastructural issues and Swisscom commitments and listen to the concerns addressed at a cantonal and municipal level. In addition to one-on-one meetings and discussions, Swisscom maintains contact with politicians and the authorities via regular publications (municipal newsletters) and e-mail newsletters. Swisscom organises information events in various cantons covering a wide range of topics (e.g. data security and using electronic media).

The construction and expansion of mobile communications infrastructure repeatedly leads to local conflict due to concerns being raised by residents. The work of Swisscom Public Affairs mainly focuses on providing knowledge and information about mobile communications and related wireless applications. As part of this, Swisscom not only deals with enquiries from the authorities and politicians, but also attends to the concerns of the general public, affected neighbours, companies and homeowners. In order to continue developing the mobile communications infrastructure in line with customer requirements while keeping a dialogue open with local stakeholders, Swisscom has worked together with the industry to develop and introduce a voluntary participation procedure which will help to determine new mobile communications sites. Swisscom has already launched this dialogue model in a number of cantons. Swisscom Public Affairs also maintains a regular exchange with environmental agencies in order to ensure that environmental regulations for mobile communications are correctly put into practice.

Swisscom participates in national working groups and committees that focus on ensuring improved broadband provision in peripheral regions. For example, Public Affairs and Public Policy represent Swisscom in the Federal Office for Communication (OFCOM) Broadband Working Group and on the Teleworking Committee of the Schweizerische Arbeitsgemeinschaft für Berggebiete (“Swiss Consortium for Alpine Regions”).

Festivals, museums and foundations

In 2014, together with Radio Energy, Swisscom presented ten “life sessions” featuring exclusive concerts that attracted more than 50,000 visitors. Swisscom also supports the medium of film in its capacity as the principal sponsor of the Locarno International Film Festival and offers film fans discounted admission to Kitag cinemas with the Carte Bleue. The company is also a member of the Board of Trustees of the Museum of Communication in Berne, which gives visitors an insight into the communication of the past, present and future. Visitor surveys show that the museum is highly regarded as a family-oriented and interactive museum. The temporary exhibition “Rituale” (“Rituals”), which opened in November 2013, welcomed 31,375 visitors in the space of eight months.

Swisscom is a sponsor of the Sasso San Gottardo foundation and the principal sponsor of the exhibition which covers the topics of mobility and the living environment, safety, water, energy, weather and climate. As part of the first Sasso San Gottardo forum, the Young Leaders for Sustainability Club was launched in 2013. Its purpose is to bring young management professionals from business, science and politics together to address questions on the topic of sustainability. In 2014, the club held two events on the premises of Swisscom and the SBB which drew some 80 happy participants and speakers. An event on the topic of “Big Data for Good” is planned for 2015.

Sports

Swisscom’s sporting sponsorship focuses on winter sports. As the principal sponsor of Swiss-Ski, it helps Swiss winter athletes reach peak performance in downhill and Nordic skiing, snowboarding, freestyle and telemark skiing. As part of its partnership with Swiss-Ski, 20% of Swisscom’s annual sponsorship fees go towards fostering the development of junior talents. Swisscom has also developed a downhill training programme for junior talents, which is focused on systematically selecting and fostering the skiers of tomorrow. It also aims to create training opportunities to provide the Swisscom Junior Alpine Ski Team with ideal preparation for the Junior World Cup. As the official telecoms partner of all Swiss FIS World Cup events, Swisscom is boosting Switzerland’s status as both a venue for sporting events and a haven for winter sports.

Football also plays a significant role in Swisscom’s commitment to sport. Thanks to Swisscom and Teleclub, more Swiss football is now being shown live on television than ever before. Swisscom TV broadcasts in excess of 200 Swiss football matches every season.

Not only is Swisscom the partner of the Swiss Football League, it also supports ten clubs in the Super League and nine in the Challenge League. Swisscom’s collaboration with the Swiss Football League is geared towards a long-term and future-oriented partnership.

Promoting start-ups and social entrepreneurship

Swisscom provides start-ups with comprehensive, long-term support, not only prior to and during the launch period, but also on their way to becoming an established company. By doing so, Swisscom plays an important role in ensuring that the Swiss economy remains competitive.

In addition, Swisscom encourages development and innovation in the Swiss SME segment, and supports up-and-coming talent through commitments on startups.ch, the Institute for Young Entrepreneurs, and through regional economic development measures. Swisscom also maintains partnerships with the Swiss Venture Club, the Swiss Economic Forum and the Swiss Innovation Forum. Swisscom is increasing its commitment in the field of social entrepreneurship, as exemplified by its partnership with the Coworking Space HUB Zurich.

Swisscom’s commitment to start-ups

  • Startups.ch: partner of Switzerland’s largest online portal for company founders.
  • Institute for Young Entrepreneurs (Institut für Jungunternehmen, IFJ): partner of eleven years of the biggest national platform for start-ups
  • BlueLion Foundation Zurich: co-founder of the foundation, which has the largest ICT and clean-tech incubator in Switzerland
  • BaseCamp4HighTech co-operative: co-founder of the co-operative launched by the canton of Berne to promote high-tech start-ups
  • Startup Weekend Association: gold sponsor of the Startup Weekend Association: supports events in Zurich, Berne, St. Gallen, Basel and Lucerne by providing financial assistance and coaches
  • Lift Conference Geneva: “official sponsor”
  • Coworking Space Impact HUB Zurich: communication partner of the Coworking Space Impact HUB Zurich, the forum for sustainably oriented founders of start-ups (social entrepreneurs)

Corporate giving and people in need

Swisscom documents its close ties to Switzerland through its Corporate Giving strategy. The company maintained its long-standing partnerships with Swiss Solidarity (Glückskette) and 143 The Samaritans (Die Dargebotene Hand) in the reporting year.

The devastating damage caused by persistent rainfall in the area of the former Yugoslavia in the spring of 2014 moved Swisscom’s Group Executive Board to offer swift help. As a result, Swisscom made a donation of CHF 500,000 to Swiss Solidarity. Swiss Solidarity uses these funds to support activities and measures in the affected region that not only help to reduce suffering in the short term, but also to rebuild the region in the long term.

In the autumn of 2014 Swisscom combined a customer survey in the residential customer segment with a donation campaign, which raised CHF 300,000 for Swiss Solidarity, WWF Switzerland and SOS Children’s Villages.

Swiss Solidarity (Glückskette)

The Swiss Solidarity foundation is Switzerland’s humanitarian solidarity and fund-raising platform. It is supported by the radio and television broadcasting organisation SRG SSR and works closely with private and print media. Swisscom has been a partner of Swiss Solidarity since its foundation in 1946 and supports the work of the charity’s 30 partner relief agencies.

143 The Samaritans (Die Dargebotene Hand)

143 The Samaritans helps vulnerable and distressed people 24 hours a day, seven days a week. More than 600 staff – mainly volunteers – take more than 155,000 phone calls a year, offering a helping hand to callers who find themselves in desperate situations. People in need of help have long been able to contact 143 The Samaritans via channels other than the phone, with the number of enquiries received via e-mail and personal chat rising continuously. Swisscom makes a significant contribution to 143 The Samaritans by providing financial support and services, as well as supporting the central secretariat and 14 regional offices.

Swisscom offerings for people with health problems

Swisscom wants everyone in Switzerland to have barrier-free access to the latest communication tools. It therefore makes a substantial contribution to ensuring that disadvantaged people can partake in Switzerland’s information society.

Swisscom Shops comply with stringent requirements concerning wheelchair access. Swisscom Shop employees also have to be able to recognise what requirements a specific disability may entail. To help them with this, Procap Schweiz provides accessibility trainings. In addition, Swisscom continuously introduces measures to optimise the accessibility of its shops.

Swisscom endeavours to offer a range of end devices that gives people with impaired hearing or vision a real choice. It therefore constantly updates its device and service portfolio. The range includes, for example, the Emporia mobile phone, a smartphone with on-screen voice support for visually impaired people, and the multi-modal customer service contact option.

Anyone unable to use the current subscriber directory due to physical impairments can be connected via the short number 1145 at no extra cost. Swisscom provides this service free of charge as part of the basic service provision.

People who are hard of hearing can take advantage of a transcription service. This service makes telephone calls possible between the hard of hearing and those who can hear normally, and is offered free of charge in association with the organisation procom. It is also part of the basic service provision.

Swisscom continues to be committed to ensuring its website offers barrier-free access to all. As part of the technical redesign of its website, Swisscom has already implemented key guidelines for barrier-free content in the form of the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines WCAG 2.0. Swisscom will also incorporate other recommendations in the upcoming phases of the website redesign and is aiming to receive AA certification from the “Access for all” foundation.

Offerings for people with limited financial resources

Swisscom supports people with scarce financial resources via two offerings. Young people under 26 can benefit from a reduced-tariff plan, with an additional credit limit for subscriptions for those under 18. Swisscom also offers subscriptions with very low basic subscription charges for older people. As older people continue to use new communication technologies less frequently than young people, these subscriptions only generate costs when the customer uses a communications service.

Energy and climate pioneers

The Energy and Climate Pioneers initiative provides classes from pre-school to secondary school with the opportunity to realise their own climate protection projects. Swisscom originally launched the initiative together with Solar Impulse and the climate foundation myclimate under the name “Climate Pioneers Initiative”. The initiative encourages children and young people to get involved and make an important contribution to protecting our climate. In 2014, SwissEnergy, the network organisation of the Swiss Federal Office of Energy (SFOE), became a partner of the initiative. SwissEnergy adds the issue of energy to the scope of the initiative and its offering for schools. As a result of this new partnership, the name of the initiative has been changed to “Energy and Climate Pioneers Initiative”.

The Energy and Climate Pioneers Initiative is supported by two well-known patrons: Bertrand Piccard and André Borschberg, who plan to fly around the world in their solar-powered plane Solar Impulse in 2015 and set a marker for the use of renewable energies.

By the end of 2014, 5,000 energy and climate pioneers had realised more than 250 projects throughout the whole of Switzerland.

Solar Impulse

André Borschberg and Bertrand Piccard’s Solar Impulse project contributes to the research and development activities carried out in the area of renewable energies. The aim of the project is to show how clean tech can reduce the use of natural resources as well as our dependence on fossil fuels. Swisscom has been Solar Impulse’s national telecommunications partner since 2009 and has developed an ultra-light, energy-saving communications solution to ensure communication between the pilot and his crew on the ground at all times as the plane circumnavigates the Earth. The company thus plays an important part in making the round-the-world flight a success. In the summer of 2013, the Solar Impulse completed the historic crossing of the United States, west to east, over a two-month period, with all communication running through Swisscom’s solution.

Thanks to the partnership with Swisscom, the public can experience Solar Impulse’s international flights from the pilot’s perspective, as a satellite connection streams images from the cockpit and the plane’s current data (position, speed, course, etc.) to a virtual cockpit on the Internet. Swisscom also provides updates on the project on Bluewin, Facebook and Twitter, along with a special application for iPhone, iPad and Android smartphones.