Dutch incumbent KPN said it will bid for the DTT frequencies in the Netherlands, as the licence for its current DTT service Digitenne runs out on January 31, 2017.
The new licence will run until 2030 and requires investment in a DVB-T2 network.
Last month, an anonymous company recommended stopping both KPN and Ziggo from participating in the auction. The company said that future DVB-T2 is an independent platform that can compete with fixed operators.
According to this company, the fact that Digitenne is not in competition now, is because KPN is working on a ‘commercial extinction policy’, by switching customers to its IPTV service.
However, the Dutch competition authority ACM said that both KPN and Ziggo would not be excluded from the auction.
The chart below shows the development of the number of subscribers to the Dutch DTT platform Digitenne by KPN