Over one fifth of the Dutch said in November 2019 that their household was either planning or wanted to switch to fibre technology (FTTH) for their internet connection, more than double the number two years before, according to the latest study by Telecompaper based on its Consumer Insights panel.
Switching has become possible for more households, thanks to the growing number of projects for FTTH deployment. Around 15 percent of Dutch households already use a fibre connection for their internet.
About 11 percent of people in the Netherlands said in November that they had signed up for FTTH services, compared to 4 percent in 2017. The number of people who had not yet signed up, but said they wanted to, also increased, rising to 11 percent from 6 percent two years earlier.
Substantial growth in the number of fibre projects
Both large and smaller fibre providers have put their plans this year in higher gear for the construction of more fibre connections. In total, plans have been announced for the connection of 1.3 million households.
With the growth in the number of announced FTTH plans and concrete projects, the number of households that want to register for a connection but cannot is falling, to 20 percent from 28 percent.
KPN subscribers more likely to want to switch to fibre
Where do households who have signed up for FTTH or who want to do so come from? About 16 percent of households with ADSL/VDSL said they wanted to switch. For cable, this was at 18 percent. Meanwhile, twice as many KPN subscribers as Ziggo customers said they wanted to switch to fibre. This does not necessarily mean a loss of subscribers for the carrier as customers can also switch internally.
