The Dutch fixed broadband market grew by 0.7 percent in the fourth quarter of 2016 and 2.6 percent over the full year to 7.33 million connections at year-end. In total 188,000 new broadband connections were added last year, according to the latest edition of Telecompaper's quarterly Dutch Broadband report.
Growth during Q4 was led by fibre, with a 2.6 percent increase in connections, and cable, up 1.4 percent, while DSL connections continued to decline. Over the full year, the number of fibre connections increased by over 15 percent to almost 1.1 million. Cable rose by over 2 percent to 3.37 million broadband customers, and DSL fell by 1 percent to 2.87 million.
Ziggo, the country's biggest cable operator, reported its best quarterly growth since its merger with UPC in late 2013. It ended the year with almost 3.18 million broadband customers and increased its market share to 43.4 percent. Number two KPN, including its brands Telfort, XS4ALL and Edutel, added just 2,000 new connections during the quarter and its market share fell by 0.3 percent points.
Alongside Ziggo and KPN, there are still a number of small players on the Dutch broadband market, such as T-Mobile, which recently acquired Vodafone's fixed business. "The small players continue to perform well and are expected to gain market share in 2017 thanks to new entrants such as NLe and T-Mobile," said Kamiel Albrecht, Telecompaper analyst and author of the report.
Nevertheless, the market growth is expected to be less than in 2016, as household penetration nears the saturation point, at an estimated 94 percent. Telecompaper forecasts the number of connections will increase by 2.3 percent in 2017.
The report also found that revenues in the broadband market reached EUR 473 million in Q4 and almost EUR 1.87 billion over the full year 2016. For the period 2017-2021 , Telecompaper expects a market CAGR of 1.7 percent in the number of connections and 1.2 percent for revenues.
