The first directory was also published that year and listed 140 subscribers.Basel, Bern, and Geneva all launched their own local networks between 18.With its development falling behind the telephone concessionselsewhere in the country, the federal government bought out the private operator, paying just over CHF 300,000 in 1886.The national telephone network continued to expand.Switzerland began testing its first public phone booths in 1904.

Besides pioneering the first mobile telephone network NATEL A, the present-day Swisscom owns the protected brand NATEL, which is used and known only in Switzerland.Telephone numbers were introduced in 1890, replacing the initial system whereby callers had been able to ask for their party by name.