Sunrise Communications, the second largest of three operators in Switzerland, plans to list its shares in the first half of 2015, in a move to boost its balance sheet that could also drive competition in the country’s mobile market.

The proceeds from the IPO, which could raise $1.3 billion, will allow the company to “substantially strengthen its balance sheet” and reduce the cost of debt, it said in a statement, adding that the planned IPO “will support its corporate strategy of investing in state-of-the-art integrated mobile and fixed network technology.”

The listing will take place on the country’s SIX exchange.

CEO Libor Voncina said the company is “excited about our growth prospects and believe that our strong cash flow profile will enable us to reward shareholders with an attractive distribution policy going forward.”

Sunrise, owned by private equity firm CVC, has 2.66 million mobile connections (Q4, 2014), according to GSMA Intelligence, with revenues of CHF 2 billion (€1.7 billion) and EBITDA of CHF 621 million (€517 million) for the twelve months ending 30 September 2014, according to the company’s statement.

It also claims to have 27 per cent of the country’s mobile market share.

The move could potentially boost competition in Switzerland, which may already be on the rise after French billionaire Xavier Niel bought number three operator Orange Switzerland from Apax Partners for CHF2.8 billion (€2.3 billion) last month.

Switzerland is unusual in that none of Europe’s major operator groups, such as Vodafone, Orange or Telefonica, own any of the top operators in the country.