Switzerland's third-largest mobile operator Salt has announced its entry on the fixed market, with a range of TV and broadband services. The company owned by Iliad founder Xavier Niel unveiled at an event in Bern its Fibre Box, which will support up to 10 Gbps broadband, and said it will offer the Apple TV 4K as its exclusive set-top box, with premium content from partnerships with Sky and Canal Plus.
Thanks to a partnership with Swiss Fibre Network (SFN), the broadband service is available for inhabitants of more than 30 cities and regions in Switzerland. Further geographical expansion is planned in the coming months and years. The triple-play offer called Salt Fibre includes internet, TV and telephony, and Salt also offers a quadruple-play with mobile services.
The new services come at very competitive prices compared to the competitors Swisscom, Sunrise and UPC Switzerland, with Salt Fibre starting at CHF 49.95 a month plus a one-off activation fee of CHF 99.95. When customers decide to combine the triple-play offer with mobile services, they will pay CHF 64.90 a month and get unlimited calls and data in Switzerland.
Fibre box with support for 10 Gbps
The Salt Fibre Box, designed by Swiss industrial designer Alfredo Haberli, can deliver symmetrical 10 Gbps speeds by means of a 10 Gbit LAN port, which Salt claims is a world first. The router is equipped with a 1.5 GHz quad-core processor, DDR 32-bit memory, two USB 3.0 (5 Gbps) ports, a 10 Gbps Ethernet interface and four independent Gigabit ports. The device supports dual-band Wi-Fi and 4x4 MIMO to deliver wireless speeds up to 2.2 Gbps.
Moreover, the Salt Fibre Box claims the lowest latency on the market and supports telephone service in HD voice quality. It can be used either with a paired or connected DECT telephone device or a traditional digital telephone in conjunction with the respective adaptor which is provided as an accessory. It also comes with a smart power saving feature.
TV developed with Zattoo, Hollystar
For the TV service, Salt will offer the Apple TV 4K box with live TV and video-on-demand services and access to dedicated Apple TV apps over the App store. It comes with cloud-based recording for up to 500 movies and broadcasts, multiscreen viewing for up to five devices simultaneously and fast channel-switching.
Salt TV, developed with online TV provider Zattoo, will provide customers with access to more than 300 live TV channels, of which 150 in HD and some already available in 4K resolution. They will be organised in a German-speaking bundle with more than 30 TV channels, a French-speaking bundle with 35 TV channels as well as access to Canal+’s myCanal application, an Italian-speaking bundle and an international bundle. Thanks to the partnership with Canal+, a very high number of premium channels will be included in Salt’s basic offer.
Salt’s VOD offer, available through Salt’s second dedicated app on Apple TV called Salt Video, is powered by Hollystar and was developed in collaboration with Sky. It essentially builds on the company’s streaming services Sky Sport and Sky Show, which provide access to sport events as well as a video library of more than 10,000 films, documentaries and series, including exclusive US TV series available 48 hours after their initial broadcast. The format of viewed content adapts automatically to customer’s devices and screens: TV, computer, tablet and smartphone. New content will be added on a weekly basis.
For the launch of this collaboration with Sky, Salt will offer the first three months of Sky Sport and Sky Show free to any Salt Fibre customer not yet registered on Sky.ch. Salt TV customers will also benefit from Canal+ promotions such as the Famille+ pack free during the first six months and the Essential Canal pack at a preferred priced of CHF 19 a month and with no commitment.
