Market figures for the second quarter of 2011
OPTA has published the second quarter and six monthly figures of the Structural Market Monitor 2011. This edition of the Structural Market Monitor gives an insight into the situation on the communication markets for mobile telephony, bundled services, broadband, television and fixed telephony. The following is a brief summary:
Mobile telephony: the number of connections increases
After a period of two years, the number of connections on the market for mobile telephony has increased by 3% to more than 21 million connections. The first six months of 2011 once again saw a slight increase in turnover for voice services (telephony) since 2010. Despite a slight fall in KPN's market share, relatively the proportions in the market remain unchanged.
Turnover of data services exceeded SMS services
In the first six months of 2011, the turnover of data services, for instance internet via mobile telephones, exceeded the turnover from SMS services (€400 million and €378 million respectively) for the first time. This was also the first six-month period in which the number of SMS messages sent fell relative to the previous six-month period (-2.5%). The fact that the turnover of SMS services nevertheless increased slightly could be explained (in combination with the increasing number of mobile connections) by the fact that consumers purchased more SMS messaging capacity as part of their subscription than they actually used.
Bundles: T-Mobile is a new provider of triple play subscriptions
The number of triple-play subscriptions (television, fixed telephony and internet) continued to increase in the first six months of 2011. This is the most popular combination of services with more than 2.5 million connections. As a new entrant to the segment for bundled services, T-Mobile has won over its first customers.
Television: 72% of subscribers have a subscription to digital television
The trends of the first quarter continued into the second quarter of 2011. 72% of Dutch television subscribers have a subscription to digital television. Ziggo remains the largest player in the Netherlands, followed by UPC and KPN.
Fixed telephony: digital telephony grew to 55% and the traffic volume fell
In the first six months, more than 55% of consumers had a digital telephony subscription (Voice-over-Broadband), and 45% still made use of an analogue connection. This translates into a slight fall in KPN's market share on the market for low capacity (mainly consumer) connections. The total volume of calls for fixed telephony fell by 3%, compared to the last six months of 2010, to slightly less than 11 billion call minutes.
Broadband: speed of internet subscriptions continues to rise
The number of DSL connections (KPN's copper network) fell further by 2%, while cable and fibre-optic connections increased (by +4% and 17% respectively). The total number of broadband connections continued to rise, from 6,330,000 to 6,393,000. KPN remains the largest player, while the market share of the runner-up, Ziggo, continued to increase, followed by UPC.
The average speed of internet subscriptions has increased further. Increasingly consumers have an internet speed of between 30 and 100 Mbps. The majority of residents of the Netherlands, however, still have a broadband connection of between 10 and 30 Mbps.