Revenues from fixed telephony connections in the Netherlands fell 12.5 percent in the third quarter to EUR 221.6 million, according to the most recent edition of Telecompaper's Dutch Fixed Telephony Market report. The year-on-year decline came mainly from fewer fixed telephony connections. The number of connections slipped in the quarter by 1.2 percent to 5.89 million.
The fall in the Dutch fixed telephony market came on the back of declines in the number of digital telephony (VoIP) lines, down 0.9 percent quarter-on-quarter. The number of digital lines amounted to 5.44 million, 47,000 less than in the second quarter. Meanwhile, the number of PSTN/ISDN/WLR lines decreased sequentially by 4.9 percent to under 450,000.
For digital telephony, cable decreased quarter-on-quarter by 0.6 percent to 2,629 million, the third quarter in a row with a decline for cable VoIP. The decrease also continued at DSL VoIP. DSL fell by 1.1 percent to less than 1.93 million VoIP lines. Fibre optics dipped 1.1 percent lower in the quarter to 883,000 VoIP lines.
Decline in revenues and connections to continue over the coming years
Fixed telephony revenues are expected to decrease further over the coming years, starting with -/-10.4 percent for 2018. For the period after that and including 2022, there will be an average decrease of 8.7 percent per year, for a total of EUR 640 million in 2022. Fixed telephony connections will also further their decline: -/-4.8 percent for 2018. For the period up to the end of 2022, an average decline of -/-5.2 percent per year is expected, for 4.67 million fixed telephony connections in 2022.
Ziggo remains the largest despite cable customer losses
Ziggo expanded its lead on number two KPN in Q3, despite fixed telephony customers losses. Ziggo's market share grew by 0.2 percentage points to 42.8 percent and by 2.522 million fixed line telephony customers, 16,000 fewer than in the second quarter. Meanwhile, KPN (PSTN, DSL and optical fibre) lost 57,000 fixed line telephony customers, for a total of 2.33 million . This accounted for a market share of 39.5 percent, 0.5 percentage points less than in Q2.
