Cable is still the infrastructure of choice for most people in the Netehrlands, for download speeds of up to 50 Mbps and 100 Mbps, with the honour going to fibre for speeds from 200 Mbps, according to Telecompaper’s latest Dutch Consumer Connected 2014 -report.
But while the percentage of consumers opting for fibre for speeds of 100-200 Mbps is still high, it has declined from previous years. The rise of cable’s popularity as a future technology might be due to the intensified marketing and sales activities of cable companies in neighbourhoods that are connected to fibre.
Speeds of 50 Mbps are now quite common and no longer considered something only for the future, as it was when Telecompaper first conducted its survey, 2009. Over one in five Dutch households can access download speeds of 50 Mbps. This is even higher for households that have a cable or fibre broadband connection.
The share of households that have fibre has doubled over the past three years. Because of fibre’s growth, the share of cable remained stable over the past four years, while DSL’s share has been decreasing. In 2011, 42 percent of all households had DSL; this has fallen to 31 percent for this year.
The survey also looked at what upload speed consumers currently have and what they think they will need in future. Almost three-quarters of consumers are unaware of their current upload speed. Almost half are also uncertain if they will ever need a 50 Mbps upload speed. Over one in five think such a speed may be needed in (the near) future.
Telecompaper conducted the survey among 15,000 consumers, between March and May of this year.