BPN 1118 Dutch broadband market is nearing saturation point

The Dutch broadband market grew by 2 percent during the first quarter of 2008, surprisingly higher than the growth during the last quarters of 2007, when the growth amounted to 1.7 percent and 1.6 percent, according to quarterly update on the Dutch broadband market, by Telecompaper, an independent research company.

The number one broadband ISP is newly formed Ziggo (formerly @Home, Casema, Multikabel). Excluding the Orange broadband cable users, the company saw its customer base grow by 30,000 net additions during the first quarter to reach 1.242 million broadband customers on 31 March. The second largest broadband ISP continues to be Het Net with 659,000 DSL users at the end of the quarter, after adding 16,000 customers in the period. At the same time its market share grew to 11.9 percent. UPC's growth slowed down to 10,800 net additions in the first quarter, taking its total to 650,300 broadband customers on 31 March 2008. KPN's second largest DSL ISP Planet continued to lose customers, ending the quarter with 558,000 subscribers, some 14,000 fewer than at the end of 2007. However, Internet van KPN won 19,000 net additions, to reach a total of 554,000 DSL customers on 31 March 2008, closing in on Planet, to become the fourth largest broadband ISP in the Netherlands.

Dutch broadband providers gained 107,000 new broadband connections during the quarter, to reach a total of 5.55 million on 31 March 2008 . The total is lower than Telecompaper reported in its previous quarterly update, due to the restating of figures by the industry. The broadband (cable & ADSL) penetration per household increased to 77.1 percent at the end of the first quarter of 2008 and penetration per 100 inhabitants increased to 33.8 percent on 31 March 2008, compared with 31.4 percent on 31 March 2007. When including the FTTH connections, the broadband penetration per household reached 78 percent at end of Q1 2008, with the penetration per 100 inhabitants amounting to 34.2 percent.

The Dutch broadband market is nearing its saturation point. The market will grow by around 2 percent per quarter during 2008 and will reach the 6 million connections mark in 2009.

Blog Posting Number: 1118

Tags: broadband, glass fibre