The two firms plan to cooperate on intelligent digital certificates.
The telecoms incumbent will cooperate with publisher-money printer Orell Fuessli to develop and manage a system of digital certificates in the coming 12 months, they said in a statement on Tuesday. These can include proof of age for buying alcohol or tobacco, or digital expression of will when combined with legally valid digital signatures.
The two said they will base their offering on principles of privacy by design, data economy and decentralised data storage. This means they follow the Swiss government's recent directive on e-identity, which ensures users the greatest possible control over their own data.
Orell Fuessli three months ago bought Procivis, a start-up which seeks to digitize public sector services like citizen identities that was launched by ex-UBS banker Daniel Gasteiger in 2016.
