The amount of mobile data that consumers use doubled last year. That has been revealed by the Telecom Monitor for the third quarter of 2014, which the Netherlands Authority for Consumers and Markets (ACM) published today. Compared with two years ago, mobile-data usage has even tripled.
“Thanks to major investments in 4G networks, we are observing a continued strong increase in mobile-data usage,” says Henk Don, Member of the Board of ACM. “In the third quarter of 2012, Dutch consumers used 5.9 Petabyte, whereas in the third quarter of 2014, they used 17.6 Petabyte."
Number of television subscriptions has dropped – more consumers watch television over fiber-optic
Another conclusion in the Telecom Monitor is that the number of television subscriptions decreased by approximately 6,500 in the third quarter of 2014. The number of households that watch television using analog (traditional) connections has dropped by almost 5 percent. On the other hand, the number of digital connections based on fiber-optic and the copper network (DSL) has increased. This increase is largely caused by the growing market shares of Vodafone and Tele2. These providers offer combinations of broadband internet and television services using KPN’s network. This form of competition has been made possible by ACM’s recent decision, where KPN is required to open its network to its competitors for another three years.
Strong growth in Machine-to-Machine-connections
The Telecom Monitor further reveals that the number of so-called Machine-to-Machine-connections (M2M) has grown substantially during the third quarter from almost 1.4 million to 2 million. These M2M connections are connections between devices that exchange data over an internet connection such as tablets, navigation systems, alarm systems, smart energy meters, and candy vending machines.
These types of machines need SIM cards and phone numbers in order to go online. For these kinds of applications, telecom providers are no longer allowed to use 06-numbers, but 097-numbers instead. The 06-numbers are only allowed for mobile telephony, because otherwise we run out of these numbers fast. In the next few months, ACM will sit down with mobile providers in order to promote the use of 097-numbers for M2M-applications.