2008 Europe - Telecoms, Mobile and Broadband in Benelux

Report Cover Image

Last updated: 14 Oct 2008 Update History

Report Status: Archived

Report Pages: 155

Analyst: Stephen McNamara

Publication Overview

The Benelux countries are Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg, all of which are densely populated and among the leaders in Europe for adopting emerging technologies. The report analyses trends and developments in telecommunications, mobile, Internet, broadband, digital TV and converging media including VoIP, VoD and IPTV developments. Subjects include:

·         Market and industry analyses, trends and developments;

·         Facts, figures and statistics;

·         Industry and regulatory issues;

·         Research, mrketing, bnchmarking;

·         Major payers, rvenues, sbscribers, pepaid;

·         VoIP, IPTV, VoD, digital TV and DTTV;

·         Converged media, mobile broadband.

 

Researcher: Henry Lancaster

Current publication date: October 2008 (7th Edition)

Next publication date:- October 2009

Executive Summary

BuddeComm’s annual publication, 2008 Europe - Telecoms, Mobile and Broadband in Benelux, profiles three of Europe’s smaller but central telecom markets of Belgium, Luxembourg and the Netherlands 

The digital TV sector in Belgium is complicated by the country’s language and demographic landscape, while the mobile sector in Luxembourg is influenced by a large number of workers from neighbouring countries, often based in the numerous European Union institutions hosted in the country. 

Despite high broadband penetration rates, the broadband market developed strongly in this region in 2008. The Netherlands retains one of the strongest broadband infrastructures in Europe, and has become a leader in fibre deployment, often stimulated by excellent co-operation with municipalities and regional governments. 

This report presents an overview of telecom liberalisation and privatisation in the Benelux countries, the development of broadband product offerings as well as an assessment of the DSL, cable and fibre markets, essential operator statistics in all telecom sectors, and the growing popularity of convergence and triple play services, including mobile broadband. 

Key highlights:

·         An increasing number of broadband, telephony and TV triple play bundles were made available in 2008. By mid-year about 50% of Dutch households received bundled fixed-line telephony and broadband from the same provider. Consumer prices have tumbled in response to effective cross-platform competition.

·         The resilient mobile market has shifted from the GSM to 3G, platforms as consumers take advantage of the excellent network upgrades: HSPA and EDGE is widely available across a region unencumbered by difficult terrain. Emerging business models, coupled with operator readiness to offer flat-data plans, stimulated mobile data use in 2008, although mobile TV remains a niche concept which is unlikely to find popular acceptance until the end of the decade.

·         The regional TV market is characterised by concentrated cable networks, which pass around 93% of all TV homes in the Netherlands and 90% in Luxembourg. Consequently, the satellite TV market is small by comparison, and the multichannel environment has affected the development of Digital Terrestrial TV.

·         The Netherlands remains a key market for fibre access. By mid-2008 there were more than 100,000 fibre connections, with almost a quarter of a million homes passed by fibre. The incumbent’s national open hybrid FttC/VDSL network is supplemented by FttH in many municipalities, using a business model which has influenced fibre policies elsewhere in Europe.

 

Broadband penetration rates in Benelux – 2008

Country

Penetration

Household penetration

Belgium

36%

75%

Luxembourg

38%

72%

Netherlands

42%

80%

(Source: BuddeComm)

 

 

For those needing high level strategic information and objective analysis on this region, this 140+ page report is essential reading and gives further information on:

·         Recent spectrum regulations and the further development of high-speed mobile access and mobile broadband;

·         Triple play developments and the convergence of wireless broadband;

·         Broadband business models based on municipal co-operation and funding for fibre access.

 

 

Data in this report is the latest available at the time of preparation and may not be for the current year.

Related Reports

Share this Report

TMT Intelligence

A platform to scale your intelligence tasks

Monitor critical insights with our AI-powered Market Intelligence Platform gathering and analyzing intelligence in real time. With AI trained to spot emerging trends and detect new strategic opportunities, our clients use TMT Intelligence to accelerate their growth.

If you want to know more about it, please see:

TMT Intelligence Platform

Research Methodology

BuddeComm's strategic business reports contain a combination of both primary and secondary research statistics, analyses written by our senior analysts supported by a network of experts, industry contacts and researchers from around the world as well as our own scenario forecasts.

For more details, please see:

Research Methodology

More than 4,000 customers from 140 countries utilise BuddeComm Research

Are you interested in BuddeComm's Custom Research Service?

News & Views

Have the latest telecommunications industry news delivered to your inbox by subscribing to BuddeComm's weekly newsletter.

Unsubscribe