Operator Source:More InformationSubscribe

Netherlands Broadband Overview

The broadband market in the Netherlands is one of the most advanced broadband markets in Europe. Through an exceptional mix of aggressive regulation and public agreement on a local level to push broadband into the next century, the Netherlands is as ICT-ready as one can possibly be at the current state of broadband technology. KPN, the incumbent operator, made an early advance into the deployment of ADSL2+ in 2005, but then lost traction. Local initiatives filled the vacuum and initiated literally hundreds of small scale FTTH projects all over the Netherlands. The sum of all these small scale ventures is a push towards more bandwidth allowing broadband applications that are entertaining, but also address the social needs of an aging society.

KPN is the incumbent telecommunications operator in the Netherlands. By 31 December 2007, KPN had over 4.3 million fixed-line telephony subscribers, 9.14 million mobile telephony subscribers, 5.44 million broadband customers and 553,000 TV customers. KPN also has operations based in Germany and Belgium.

Mobile telephony has remained very popular in the Netherlands. Despite a state of apparent market saturation, the mobile phone sector has been growing continuously on the demand for second hand-sets and connections. KPN was the first operator to introduce mobile telephony in the Netherlands, and currently offers mobile services through its subsidiary Proximus. Another operator, Telfort, was bought by KPN in 2005, but since then KPN sold part of Telfort’s GSM frequency to T-Mobile in September 2007. The international giants such as Vodafone, Orange and T-Mobile are all present in the Netherlands. All five (four) operators run GSM networks, and successfully applied for 3G licenses in 2000. KPN and Vodafone launched their 3G services in 2004, T-Mobile followed in January 2006 and Orange later on in 2006. KPN’s UTMS coverage now reaches 97% of the Dutch population.

In November 2006, Vodafone announced its plans to enter the Dutch business broadband market to offer voice and data service bundles as a complete solution to enterprises. As a result it acquired The Network Factory (TNF), a smallish Dutch broadband provider with about 500 business-level customers which does not own its own infrastructure. And after it signing DSL resale agreements with BT in the UK and Fastweb in Italy, Vodafone’s move into foreign broadband markets continues.