A quarter of home broadband connections in the Netherlands are now based on FTTH, with nearly 2 million fibre subscribers as of the end of Q1 2021, according to research by Telecompaper. The market researcher has updated its forecast for the broadband market and now expects FTTH to be the dominant technology by 2025.
The number of new fibre subscribers accelerated in Q1, with 120,000 new connections added, according to Telecompaper’s latest quarterly Dutch Broadband report. That is three times the number of fibre connections added in the same period a year ago.
The strong growth comes as KPN, Delta Fiber and new investors such as Primevest steadily add new FTTH coverage around the country. In addition, KPN completed a pilot project to phase out much of the copper network in six areas in Q1, with all of the customers there moved to fibre lines.
Cable still leads, DSL falls to less than 30% market share
Fibre’s growth has largely come at the expense of DSL. The number of DSL subscribers fell by around 74,000 in Q1, with the losses around three times higher than in previous quarters. Overall DSL has lost around 150,000 subscribers in the past year, reducing its share of the broadband market to less than 30 percent.
Cable has also started to slowly lose broadband customers in the past three quarters, but remains the dominant technology with 45 percent of connections at the end of Q1 2021.
Fibre to take lead in 2025
Telecompaper has updated its forecast for fibre connections in the next five years following the recent strong growth and KPN’s plans to phase out much of its copper network by 2023. Fibre is expected to overtake DSL already this year in terms of market share and surpass cable in 2025 with almost 44 percent of broadband connections.
"KPN takes a majority of the new fibre subscribers each quarter, helping offset its losses in the DSL market and stabilise its share of the overall broadband market," said Kamiel Albrecht, Telecompaper senior research analyst and author of the Dutch Broadband report. "At the same time, T-Mobile, Delta and many smaller providers are profiting from the new fibre networks and together accounted for nearly half of the new fibre subscribers in Q1."
The above figures come from Telecompaper's report Dutch Broadband Q1 2021, which is now available for purchase. The report provides a complete overview of the mass-market broadband market, including information on connections, revenues, market shares, trends and the five-year forecast. For more information about the report or to receive a customised analysis, please contact research@telecompaper.com.
