Sunrise Communications AG

Sunrise was created out of the fusion between diAx and sunrise in 2001. diAx was founded in 1997, started operating in December 1998, and belonged to 40% of the American SBC Communications, 50% of Swiss energy suppliers and 10% of the Swiss companies Federal RWE AG. Sunrise then belonged mainly to the BT Group and the Danish Tele Danmark (TDC A/S), with Migros and the Swiss Federal Railways as junior partners. In 2000, the two companies wanted to prevent paying the bill for the UMTS licenses. Through the merger of diAx and sunrise, there were only four applicants registered for the four UMTS licenses. After the fusion, the new brand name sunrise and the new company TDC Switzerland AG became the 100% subsidiary of TDC A/S.

At the end of January 2006, Nordic Telephone Company (NTC) acquired 88.2% of the shares of TDC A/S, Sunrise's parent company. On 4 October 2007, the name of the company was changed to Sunrise Communications AG and the brand name Sunrise was capitalised. As a new logo, the "Sunrise" label is written in the Frutiger font style, which is intended to underline the Swiss anchorage of the company. In addition, its new motto is "Brave. Vital. Honest. Easy."

On 29 September, 2008, Sunrise announced the acquisition of the competitor Tele2 Switzerland. Tele2, which had more than 491,000 customers, initially remained a brand and the employees were taken over. As of 1 November 2011, however, license rights expired on the name "Tele2", and it was changed to "Tele4U".[7]

In November 2009, France Télécom and TDC announced the intention to merge their Swiss subsidiaries Orange Communications and Sunrise. At the new company, France Télécom should hold 75% of shares and TDC 25%. Combined, the new company would have a market share of around 38% for mobile communications and around 13% for broadband connections. On 22 April 2010, the Competition Commission (WEKO) prohibited the merger. The reason for this was the market dominance in the mobile market of the merged company together with Swisscom. In addition, the most active network operator in the market would be excluded from the market.[8]

In September 2010, TDC A/S and the Luxembourg-based private equity firm CVC Capital Partners, announced that they had reached an agreement to purchase Sunrise through CVC for CHF3.3 billion. The transaction was executed after approval by the Swiss competition and regulatory authorities on 28 October 2010.

In 2015 Sunrise went on the stock exchange. The German telecommunication provider Freenet has been the main shareholder since 2016.[9]

In February 2019, Sunrise agreed on the acquisition of UPC Switzerland from Liberty Global for CHF6.3 billion,[10] pending financing and approval of the Swiss trade commission.

As of 12 November 2019 Sunrise canceled the share purchase agreement with Liberty Global. [11]

• Sunrise