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Viewing report
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Netherlands Telecommunications Report Q1 2011
Business Monitor International, Feb 2011, Pages: 78
The Netherlands Telecommunications Report provides industry professionals and strategists, corporate analysts, telecommunication associations, government departments and regulatory bodies with independent forecasts and competitive intelligence on Netherlands's telecommunications industry.
Although broadband services offer greatest growth, the most dynamic aspect of the Dutch telecoms market remains the mobile segment. Over 1mn subscriber losses at T-Mobile saw the operator fall to third place in the market, allowing Vodafone to take the number two spot. KPN Mobile, a unit of the incumbent fixed-line operator, remains the market leader despite failing to add any subscribers in the first three quarters of 2010. While the losses could be blamed on the ongoing economic difficulties experienced across Europe – and to some extent this is true – it has been more of an exercise on the part of operators in the market to discount inactive SIMs.
Removing inactive subscribers from the market total gives a clearer indication of the number of users in the mobile market that are generating revenues. Key to discounting inactive connections is the positive impact this has on ARPUs. KPN and T-Mobile both reported growth in blended ARPUs in 2010, although it is notable that a breakdown of these figures shows that growth was generated by prepaid subscribers and not the growing number of postpaid subscribers in the market.
BMI believes that the economic downturn has encouraged operators in the Netherlands to have a more long term view, concentrating on contract subscribers and increasing their loyalty.
Meanwhile mobile broadband subscriptions have been added to the broadband forecasts, having a positive impact on the rate of growth. However, this adds greater competition for new subscribers. Fixed broadband providers will need to offer a range of services as well as faster download speeds in order to compete with mobile offerings although BMI believes some Dutch subscribers will chose to have a high speed connection at home, and a mobile connection for occasional downloading on-the-go. This will allow for strong growth to continue. For fixed broadband operators, new services such as pay-TV content will be key to maintaining interest in their services.
The broadband market has provided a welcome respite to operators experiencing a decline in traditional fixed-line services. A slowdown in the decline of fixed lines has been the result of an increasing interest in VoIP services. However, BMI expects this decline to continue indefinitely with no return to growth.
Finally, the Netherlands remains in third place in BMI’s Business Environment Ratings, scoring well across the ratings. Despite economic difficulties both at home and in the Eurozone, the Dutch economy is well placed to weather the storm, which will be a boost to telecoms operators. The loss of subscribers in 2010 prevented growing ARPU from improving the Industry Rewards score, but further ARPU growth should see the Netherlands hold its place among the top rated markets in Western Europe.
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