Salt Mobile

About the Salt Network

Salt is one of three national mobile network operators in Switzerland. Formerly known as Orange, the company's history dates back to its founding in January 1998. Salt Mobile SA was formerly known as Orange Communications SA and changed its name to Salt Mobile in April 2015. The company was acquired by billionaire Xavier Niel's investment vehicle NJJ Holdings in February 2015.

Full Name
Salt Mobile SA
Country
Salt Mobile logo

Salt 3G

The company, then Orange Switzerland, began providing 3G UMTS services over B1 (2100 MHz) in April 2007. The 3G network was upgraded to DC-HSPA+ in November 2011, with B8 (900 MHz) added around the same period.

Technical Data
Launch Date 2007-04 Status Active
UMTS Band Packet Data Status
DC-HSPA+
Active
HSPA+
Active

Salt 4G

4G LTE was launched in May 2013 over the B3 (1800 MHz) band, with B7 (2600 MHz) added in November that year. The company began adding B20 (800 MHz) in May 2014, and later following a refarm of 3G spectrum added B1 (2100 MHz) in January 2019. Peak data rates of 300 Mbps are achieved using 2C aggregation of B3+B7.

After acquiring additional spectrum in February 2019, Salt intends on increasing peak downlink data rates to the 1 Gbps mark using multi carrier aggregation.

Technical Data
Evolution Status Active [Launched 2013-05-26]
Max. MIMO Max. Modulation
64QAM
Carrier Aggregation
2C CA
LTE Band Channel Width Status
10 MHz Active
20 MHz Active
20 MHz Active
10 MHz Active
10 MHz Planned

Salt 5G

In January 2018 Salt and Nokia demonstrated 5G technology in Salt’s headquarters in Renens using a temporary license obtained from the OFCOM. The test achieved 4.5 Gbps over the 3.5 GHz band using 8T8R equipment.

Salt announced its intentions to use its 700 MHz and 3.5 GHz network to implement a dual-band 5G network comprising n28 (700 MHz) and n78 (3500 MHz) using 10 and 80 MHz channels respectively. The network is to be constructed in partnership with Nokia.

Technical Data
Evolution
NR (Rel. 15+)
Status Planned
Max. MIMO Max. Modulation
256QAM
Carrier Aggregation -
NR Band Channel Width Status
10 MHz Planned
80 MHz Planned