Dutch telecom companies offer a range of communication services for residential and business customers. These services include voice, mobile, cable TV and Internet. These companies also provide IT services such as data storage and backup, computer repair and security solutions for customers' computers, smartphones and tablets.
The Netherlands is a highly competitive telecommunications market with strong competition between the two major operators, KPN and Vodafone-Ziggo. The market is highly regulated, making it difficult for new players to enter the industry.
In addition, the telecommunications sector is becoming increasingly diverse and technology-driven. With the advent of 5G networks, for example, customers are increasingly using their phones to make calls and connect to the internet.
This requires efficient and intelligent network design that is capable of handling the burgeoning demand for broadband in the future. In order to meet the challenge, Deutsche Telekom is investing at a record level in 2021.
One of the world’s leading integrated telecommunications companies, Deutsche Telekom provides fixed-network/broadband, mobile communications and Internet, IPTV and IT services for both consumers and businesses. Its portfolio covers 248 million mobile subscribers, 26 million fixed-network lines and 22 million broadband lines.
Its operations are divided into four business areas: Enterprise, Consumer and Media. The company serves customers in Europe and the United States with a wide variety of products and services.
The Netherlands has a vibrant telecommunications market, with one of the most advanced and fastest-growing broadband sectors in the world. This is driven by effective cross-platform competition between DSL and HFC networks, and boosted by numerous fibre deployments.
With a rapidly growing population and increased urbanisation, the market is set to expand in the coming years. To keep pace with this rapid growth, the country’s telcos are launching numerous modernisation initiatives.
These include the construction of a number of new fibre-based access points, and repurposing their existing copper infrastructures for 5G and other IP services. For example, KPN plans to stop marketing PSTN lines during 2020 and focus on IP connectivity.
As part of this modernisation programme, KPN is replacing its copper access networks with fibre. The company also owns a 50% share in Glaspoort, which is a wholesale fibre access provider that serves about 80% of all premises in the Netherlands.
To support the rollout of its fibre-based access networks, KPN has launched a joint-venture company called GTT, which includes an investment from APG, one of the country’s largest pension funds. The joint-venture is designed to help KPN and its competitors rollout their infrastructure in a more timely and efficient manner.
In addition to the fibre network upgrade program, KPN is focusing on developing its own data-intensive services. Its new services are expected to complement the existing fixed-network/broadband, IPTV and mobile service offerings.
