BERNE, Switzerland -- From today Swisscom residential customers can browse the Internet at the ultra-fast speed of 1 Gbps – thanks to Swisscom's new fibre-optic network, which is now available to over 650,000 customers. The top speed can be booked as an option with Vivo Casa 5* for CHF 100 a month. Another new option available with this package is 300 Mbps for CHF 20 a month. All Vivo Casa 5* customers benefit in addition from an automatic increase in browsing speed to 100 Mbps at no extra charge.

The Internet is becoming increasingly important in people's everyday lives. Whether using video telephony or high-resolution television, the number of activities taking place online is growing all the time, prompting a rapid surge in demand for broadband. This year alone Swisscom will have invested CHF 1.75 billion in infrastructure expansion in order to keep pace with this demand. In addition, Swisscom is deploying a mix of technologies to enable virtually nationwide broadband coverage and aims to make ultra broadband available to over 2.3 million households and businesses by 2015.

Swisscom is the first provider in Switzerland to offer its customers browsing speeds of 1 Gbps. Already, 650,000 customers equipped with fibre-to the-home (FTTH) are able to browse the Internet at super-fast speeds. The top speed is available as an option with the Vivo Casa 5* package for CHF 100 per month. Another new option bookable with Vivo Casa 5* is 300 Mbps for CHF 20 per month. Effective immediately Vivo Casa 5* customers now surf automatically at speeds of up to 100 Mbps, compared with the previous maximum speed of 50 Mbps, for the same monthly subscription price of CHF 149.

Swisscom has developed a new Internet Box to support the new 1 Gbps speeds. Besides being able to support top speeds, the Box ensures an extremely user-friendly and secure Internet experience. Features include an interactive display, an extra WLAN access available at the touch of a button for guests, and a child protection feature so that browsing times can be fixed. The new Internet Box is available free of charge to all Vivo Casa 5* customers who want to take advantage of the new speed options.

Swisscom AG (NYSE: SCM)