The number of Dutch broadband connections has grown by 0.6 percent during the first quarter of this year reaching 6.79 million connections on 31 March, according to Telecompaper’s quarterly report. Cable and fibre continued to grow enough to off-set the decline in DSL lines as cable grew 1.6 percent to 3.13 million connections. DSL lost 1.2 percent ending March with 3.007 million lines and fibre saw the number of broadband lines grow 4 percent during the quarter to end it with a market share of 9.6 percent of all broadband connections.
KPN, including its XS4ALL and Telfort brands, is the largest broadband provider in the Netherlands with a 40.2 percent share of subscribers at the end of March, after losing 0.4 percentage point compared with the previous quarter. Ziggo was number two with a market share of 27.8 percent gaining 0.4 percent and UPC won 0.2 percent to reach 16.0 percent market share.
Telecompaper estimates that retail revenues for the consumer broadband market were stable at EUR 506 million in the first quarter and forecasts a CAGR of 2.2 percent for the broadband revenues until 2018. With regards to broadband connections, 2.1 percent growth during this year is expected. The annual growth is slowing down as already 88.9 percent of Dutch households have a broadband connection.
