The number of triple play customers switching to another provider has continued to fall, according to the Dutch Multiplay report by Telecompaper Consumer Insights.
In 2015, the number of “switchers” was at 5%. A year later, it had dropped to 4%. A possible explanation for the decline is the growing popularity of quad play. It is interesting to note that about three quarters of people who say they intend to switch, actually do.
By mid-2015, almost 7% of the triple play households said they were thinking of switching within the next six months. Later, it turned out that 5% actually did. Looking at the same indicators for the first and second half of 2016, the number of switchers slid to 4.5% in H1 and to 4% to H2.
A reason for the declining number of people switching within the triple play market can be attributed to the increasing number of households that are binding themselves even more to a telecom provider through one or more mobile subscriptions.
At mid-2015, 544,000 households were subscribed to four services (internet, TV, fixed and mobile telephony) with one sole provider; the number jumped to 963,000 by the end of 2016. In addition, the number of mobile subscriptions taken up by a household tend to go up, if they are supplied by the same provider as for fixed services. For example, KPN said the number of mobile subscriptions taken up by quadplay households rose 1.5 percent this year to an average of 1.47, from 1.43 year-on-year.
The number of mobile subscriptions within a KPN quadplay household has further increased, to 1.5 in the second half of 2017, which means households are even more involved with the same provider. The joint venture VodafoneZiggo and associated quadplay benefits have also pushed up the number of quadplay customers. In mid-2016, the number of quadplay subscribers amounted to just under 1 million; by 2017, it had soared to 1.4 million. This may cause a further decrease in the number of customers who switch all of their fixed services (plus associated mobile services).