ACM Telecom Monitor: mobile-data consumption has increased

In the third quarter of 2020, people in the Netherlands consumed considerably more mobile data than in previous quarters. This is one of the conclusions of the Telecom Monitor that the Netherlands Authority for Consumers and Markets (ACM) published today. Data consumption in the third quarter was 264 billion MB, which is an increase of 20 percent compared with the second quarter. One possible explanation for this increase is that, during the summer months, people spent more time outdoors, and thus consumed more mobile data and less wifi.

After an increase in the first six months, the volume of voice minutes over fixed telephony once again dropped to pre-coronavirus-pandemic levels (fourth quarter of 2019). The volume of voice minutes over mobile telephony, too, dropped by 10% compared with the second quarter of 2020.

Broadband connections of households

In total, 7.5 million households have broadband connections. Of those households, over 4 million have a broadband connection of 100 Mbps (Megabit per second) or higher. More and more people have broadband connections based on fiber-optic technology, which comes at the expense of copper-based and cable-based connections. In the third quarter, over 1.5 million households had fiber-optic connections, which was 59,000 more than in the second quarter. Approximately 6 million households have copper connections or fiber-optic connections, which is 22,000 less than in the second quarter.

Market shares of mobile operators

The three largest providers in the Netherlands each have a market share of between 20 and 30 percent on the mobile-connections market. Based on mobile-data consumption, the market share of mobile operator T-Mobile (including Tele2) was nearly half of all data in the third quarter of 2020. KPN's and VodafoneZiggo’s market shares were between 20 and 25 percent. KPN and VodafoneZiggo are the largest providers on the broadband market, each with a market share of between 45 and 50 percent. T-Mobile has a market share of between 5 and 10 percent, and Delta Fiber Nederland has a market share of less than 5 percent.

Fiber-optic wholesale market

The wholesale market for access (physical or otherwise) to fiber-optic networks that have been built to locations of business end-users continues to grow. This market of so-called ‘ODF access’ for data traffic between different business parks consisted in the third quarter of 2020 approximately 107,000 connections. Over these FttO connection networks (‘Fiber to the Office’), approximately 57,000 lines are offered as retail service to business end-users. Approximately 40 percent of business network services are currently offered over fiber-optic connections.

About the Telecom Monitor

Each quarter, ACM publishes the market figures for the telecommunication sector in its Telecom Monitor. Based on data from the most important market participants in the telecom industry, the Telecom Monitor gives an overview of the trends and developments in mobile services, fixed telephony, broadband, television, business network services, and bundles.

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