Basics
The Principality of Liechtenstein is one of Europe’s smaller countries nestled between Switzerland and Austria. It only measures 160 square kilometers. But it’s in a very special position: It's part of the EEA, so EU laws apply, but it's attached to networks of Switzerland too, where they don't.
Liechtenstein has 3 network operators:
- Telecom Liechtenstein (FL1, formerly Mobilkom Liechtenstein)
- Swisscom
- Salt (formerly Orange CH)
It has an excellent coverage on 2G and 3G. Telecom Liechtenstein is market leader in this country, but has no prepaid product so far. 4G/LTE has started with all three operators. Frequency bands 800, 900, 1800, 2100 und 2600 MHz were allocated. For prepaid offers you need to turn to Swiss providers.
Common market with Switzerland
The Liechtenstein mobile phone system is attached to Switzerland. This means that customers of all three providers can roam in Switzerland on Swiss networks without additional fees. This applies to data too.
Telecom Liechtenstein uses its partner network Salt for free roaming in Switzerland, Salt and Swisscom their respective Swiss home networks.
So you can buy any product of these three to be used in Switzerland without additional costs. Telecom Liechtenstein is not featured here, as they don’t sell prepaid products, so better go to Salt or Swisscom instead or buy your SIM card in Switzerland.
Vice versa you can buy Swiss prepaid SIM cards to be used without surcharges roaming in Liechtenstein. This applies to Swisscom and Salt (formerly Orange CH) and their respective MVNOs, but not to Sunrise and its MVNOs. Sunrise doesn’t have a network infrastructure or a local partner in Liechtenstein and charges high fees for international roaming in this small country on the FL1 network.
Looking for a prepaid card for Liechtenstein, refer to the Switzerland section and look for Swisscom and Salt or one of their MVNOs like Coop mobile, OK mobile or Lycamobile. Stay away from Sunrise, if you want to use it in Liechtenstein as well.
Member of the EEA
Though Liechtenstein is attached to the Swiss market, it's - unlike Switzerland – part of the EEA, where EU roaming caps apply too.
That’s why Swiss and Liechtenstein networks are still separate for fiscal reasons and can be billed very differently, even if they have the same name. This is especially true when you are roaming internationally with an EEA SIM card in Liechtenstein. The EU/EEA roaming caps for data apply only to Liechtenstein, while roaming in Switzerland is treated very differently by various EU providers.
