The Dutch broadband market grew by 1.1 percent during the first quarter of 2010, to reach 6.126 million connections on 31 March 2010, according to Telecompaper's quarterly update on the Dutch broadband market. During the quarter, almost 64,000 net additions were recorded, compared with almost 60,000 during the first quarter of 2009. The number of DSL connections dropped by 0.5 percent or 18,300 during the quarter, to reach a total of 3.517 million on 31 March, while cable reported quarterly growth of 2.3 percent for the first quarter, adding 54,300 new broadband customers, ending the quarter with 2.4 million broadband connections. The number of broadband subscribers via FTTH grew to around 194,400 on 31 March 2010, including 21,000 subscribers at KPN. At the same time, KPN had 10,000 VDSL (FTTC) customers. The broadband (including FTTH and KPN VDSL) penetration per Dutch household increased to 83.6 percent at the end of Q1, growing by 2.4 percentage points compared to March 2009. Telecompaper expects the Dutch broadband market to grow between 3 and 3.5 percent during this year, driven by cable and FTTH. At the same time DSL is expected to continue to lose customers, despite the VDSL push by KPN, Tele2 Netherlands and Online. Internet van KPN is still the largest broadband ISP in the Netherlands with 29.9 percent of subscribers, followed by Ziggo with 24 percent, UPC Netherlands with 12.6 percent and Tele2 with 6.8 percent.
