The T-Mobile group vaulted into the lead on the Dutch mobile market at the end of 2020 with the acquisition of the largest MVNO Simpel. T-Mobile had over 32 percent of retail customers, up from 27 percent at the end of 2019, according to the latest edition of Telecompaper’s quarterly Dutch Mobile Operators report. Alongside the acquisition, the T-Mobile brand showed the strongest organic customer growth in 2020, suggesting the company may be getting ready to phase out some of its other brands.
T-Mobile’s retail customer base includes its own brand, Tele2, Ben and now Simpel. On its own, the T-Mobile brand is still in third place on the Dutch market, but grew strongly last year, adding 0.7 percent points of market share to reach nearly 19 percent of Sims, Telecompaper's research found.
While KPN fell to second place in the total market, the incumbent remains the biggest retail brand, with nearly 28 percent of Sims. KPN lost customers throughout most of the year, only returning to positive territory in Q4 thanks to the migration of customers from its discontinued Yes Telecom brand to the KPN flag.
"T-Mobile performed best of the three top brands in 2020, adding more than twice as many customers as Vodafone," said Alejandra van de Roer, Telecompaper senior analyst for the mobile market and author of the Dutch Mobile Operators report. "With Tele2 steadily losing customers and Ben treading water, we expect one or both of these brands may disappear by the end of 2021."
Vodafone remains in third place but increased its share slightly in 2020 to almost 25 percent of retail Sims, helped by demand for its FMC packages with Ziggo and growth in the B2B segment. Vodafone’s share of service revenues is higher at just over 28 percent, thanks to a large share of postpaid customers in its base and its market-leading ARPU.
In total, the Dutch market grew by 1.6 percent in 2020 to over 21 million Sims, equal to a 121 percent penetration of the population. T-Mobile’s acquisition of Simpel means independent MVNOs fell to just 12.5 percent of the Dutch mobile market at the end of 2020. Total mobile service revenues fell 2.9 percent to EUR 3.6 billion, as fierce competition and discounts on fixed-mobile packages kept prices under pressure. Lower out-of-bundle usage and reduced roaming due to the pandemic also had an impact on mobile service revenues in 2020.
A complete analysis of the mobile market, including a five-year market forecast, is available in Telecompaper’s quarterly Dutch Mobile Operators report. The Q4 2020 edition of the report is now available for purchase on the Telecompaper website. For a customised analysis or more information, please contact research@telecompaper.com.
