Salt And Sunrise Test Shared Rural Mobile Network Plan In Switzerland

Salt and Sunrise are studying a shared rural mobile-network buildout in Switzerland, DCD reported, using a memorandum of understanding to test whether selected radio sites can serve both carriers without merging their core networks.

The MoU targets rural and less densely populated areas where mobile expansion carries fewer users per site.

The companies want the study to show whether existing network infrastructure can be used more efficiently and whether future investment can be aimed more precisely than two stand-alone rural builds.

Financial efficiency is part of the stated aim, not a signed saving.

Both carriers frame the potential collaboration as broader access to mobile sites rather than a change in retail control.

RAN Sharing Carries The Study

The proposed arrangement centers on Radio Access Network sharing under a multioperator core network sharing model.

Selected antenna sites would connect to both companies' core networks, allowing customers to use parts of the other operator's mobile network while each carrier keeps its own core.

That design keeps the cooperation at the radio layer.

Salt and Sunrise would remain independent companies with their own licences, control over spectrum usage and commercial decision-making, so the project is framed as infrastructure sharing rather than a network merger.

Study Phase Sets The Conditions

The study phase will examine planning, operational, economic, legal and regulatory requirements before either side signs definitive agreements.

Any final network-sharing deal depends on the outcome of that review.

Rural coverage is the operating problem behind the talks.

Sunrise chief executive André Krause described the goal as giving rural users the same network quality available in cities, while Salt chief executive Max Nunziata framed the collaboration as a way to strengthen rural connectivity and future-proof network infrastructure.

The immediate result is a due-diligence process rather than a live shared network.

Salt and Sunrise still need to convert the MoU into binding agreements before customers see coverage gains from the planned RAN-sharing model.