ACM Telecom Monitor Q4 2024: Fiber-optic roll-out continues to grow, but not everywhere at same speed

Whereas ten years ago just over two million fiber-optic connections were installed, now there are 8.26 million connections. However, the “fiber-optic race” is taking place not everywhere at the same speed. In some parts of the Netherlands, the roll-out is lagging behind, according to the latest quarterly and annual reviews of the Telecom Monitor of the Netherlands Authority for Consumers and Markets (ACM). Together with the Telecom Monitor, the annual Number Issuance Monitor has also been published.

Over the past few years, telecom operators embarked on a large-scale roll-out of fiber-optic in the Netherlands. The Telecom Monitor for Q4 reveals that, so far, 8.26 million fiber-optic connections have been installed, and that plans have been taken out at 3.19 million addresses. In the previous quarter, there were 7.94 million fiber-optic connections, of which 3.03 million addresses had plans. The number of subscribers that go online using fiber-optic went up 5.28 percent in the fourth quarter compared with the previous quarter. However, the roll-out is lagging behind in some parts of the Netherlands, according to the fiber-optic map. These are often rural areas, but in some areas of the densely-populated western part of the Netherlands (called Randstad), there are streets without any fiber-optic cables, including in the capital city of Amsterdam. The northern provinces of Groningen and Friesland as well as the southern province of Zeeland are lagging slightly behind in the roll-out compared with the other Dutch provinces. In five municipalities, coverage is below 10 percent: Gulpen-Wittem, Voerendaal, Oostzaan, Enkhuizen, and Noord-Beveland.

Manon Leijten, Member of the Board of ACM, adds: “Fiber-optic has been rolled out incredibly fast. In some areas, there are even multiple cables, which is good for competition and gives consumers plenty to choose from. Unfortunately, there are also places where options are still limited. However, thanks to innovations such as fixed wireless access, options are also increasing in remote areas as well as other locations without any fiber-optic yet.”

Other telecom trends and developments

The Telecom Monitor also reveals that trends that emerged before have continued. The once so popular combination of telephony, broadband, and television with the same provider is less and less in demand. In the period between 2013 and 2024, the number of these plans went down from 3.72 million to 800,000. By contrast, the combination of a mobile connection and another service is becoming more and more popular. Fewer than half of all households still have a landline connection. Over the past quarter, we called for exactly 1 billion minutes over landlines. More and more households have broadband connections with speeds of over 100 Mbps (86.6 percent in 2024 compared with 81.7 percent in 2023). In the fourth quarter, we consumed slightly less mobile data than in Q3, but over 2024 as a whole, we consumed more data than in 2023 (2,333 million gigabytes and 2,038 million gigabytes, respectively). In comparison: In 2013, we consumed 34 million gigabytes of mobile data.

Number Monitor: landline connections particularly popular in city of Ede

Together with the Telecom Monitor, the annual Number Issuance Monitor has been published as well. It reveals that the issuance of mobile numbers has increased only slightly. At the moment, approximately 53,220,000 mobile numbers are in use, which represents approximately 89 percent of the total available numbers. Approximately 54,700,000 Machine-to-Machine numbers (097-numbers) are in use, which amounts to approximately 55 percent of the total available numbers. These 097-numbers are used by “smart devices.” The decrease in premium-rate and subscriber numbers has continued. Even though fewer and fewer households have landline connections, 62,447,000 geographic phone numbers are still in use in 2024, but this number is decreasing steadily. ACM does note differences at the local level. Of the three-digit area-code regions, most numbers were issued for the cities of Amsterdam, Rotterdam, and The Hague. In the latter, the issuance of landline numbers actually increased slightly compared with the previous year, going against the general trend. Of the four-digit area-code regions, the region around the city of Ede (0318) this year has, once again, the highest issuance percentage (72.4 percent). Approximately 507,000 landline numbers are in use in this region in the eastern province of Gelderland. Relatively speaking, the issuance percentage here is also higher than in all other area-code regions. ACM concludes that, on the basis of these figures, sufficient numbers are still available for all number types for the time being.

About the monitors

Each quarter, ACM publishes the Telecom Monitor. It gives an overview of the trends in the telecom sector. The largest market participants in the telecom industry regularly submit data about their activities to ACM for the Telecom Monitor. The Number Issuance Monitor is an annual monitor in which ACM reports on the trends and developments regarding the issuance of numbers. ACM manages the supply of all phone numbers in the Netherlands. The monitor provides insight into the availability of numbers so that the Ministry of Economic Affairs (EZ) is able to respond in time to potential shortages.