ACM Telecom Monitor Q3 2021: Number of mobile connections for devices increases to 8.8 million

In the third quarter of 2021, the number of mobile connections for devices increased to over 8.8 million. These are connections for, for example, smoke detectors, alarm systems, cars, and smart energy meters, which exchange information with digital operating systems over mobile broadband. This is one of the conclusions of the most recent Telecom Monitor that the Netherlands Authority for Consumers and Markets (ACM) published.

The largest increase in the number of mobile connections (an increase of 400,000) is now generated by the increase in devices that send data, the so-called machine-to-machine applications (M2M). For mobile phones, the number of new connections increased by 300,000 to a total of 22.9 million.

More and more people use apps to send messages or to make calls, thereby consuming mobile data instead of their voice and text plans. The volume of mobile voice minutes has decreased by 5 percent to 11.6 billion, and the number of texts decreased by 2 percent to 546 million. At the same time, mobile data consumption continues to go up each quarter. In the third quarter, mobile data consumption increased by 12 percent to 346 million gigabyte.

The market shares of mobile operators with networks of their own have remained unchanged for the past eight consecutive quarters. KPN and T-Mobile both have a market share between 25 to 30 percent, followed by VodafoneZiggo with a market share between 20 to 25 percent. Mobile operators without networks of their own have a combined market share between 10 to 15 percent.

In addition, the decrease in voice minutes over landlines continues. In the third quarter of 2021, the volume of voice minutes over landlines was 1.8 billion. That is 30 percent lower than the peak of 2.54 billion minutes in the second quarter of 2020. At the time, an extended period of decline was interrupted by an increase for two consecutive quarters, right around the time when the first COVID-19 restrictions were introduced.

Broadband

In the third quarter, new fiber-optic connections were installed in 175,000 households. Over 4.26 million households now have fiber-optic cables running into their homes. Of those households, 1.8 million also have broadband plans using fiber-optic, which is 18,000 more than in the previous quarter. The number of broadband plans (100 Mpbs or higher) using copper connections decreased by 4,000 to 2.3 million, and the number of broadband plans using cable decreased by 13,000 to 3.48 million.

The market shares of the broadband providers remained unchanged in the second quarter. KPN and VodafoneZiggo remained the largest broadband providers with market shares between 35 and 45 percent. T-Mobile’s market share was between 5 and 10 percent, and Delta Fiber’s market share was between 0 and 5 percent.

Bundles of fixed and mobile services

More and more consumers take out bundles that combine mobile plans with fixed services, for example a combination of fixed services such as telephony, television, or internet with a mobile plan. In the third quarter of 2021, the number of bundles that were taken out increased by 7 percent to 3.2 million. On the other hand, the number of bundles with fixed services but without a mobile plan decreased by 5.3 percent to 3.8 million.

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.

See also

27-12-2021 Telecom Monitor for Q3 2021 (in Dutch)
21-10-2021 ACM Telecom Monitor Q2 2021: one in two households has a fiber-optic connection