The Dutch fixed telephony market grew by 31,000 connections during the first quarter of 2012 to 6.03 million lines, returning to a level not seen since the first quarter of 2006. According to Telecompaper's quarterly report, the market recovery was due to growth in the number of consumer VoIP subscriptions, which rose by 2.7 percent over the three months to 4.45 million at the end of March 2012. This offset a 6.7 percent drop in PSTN/ISDN connections to 1.29 million lines. The VoIP market was led by cable operators, which grew by 4.2 percent during the quarter to 2.36 million telephony lines, while DSL VoIP fell by 0.5 percent during the quarter to 1.87 million lines. The strong Q1 led Telecompaper to slightly increase its fixed telephony market forecast for 2012 to growth of 0.9 percent. VoIP lines are expected to grow around 9 percent during 2012, driven by more operators offering triple-play packages via multiple networks.
