Open Dutch Fiber (ODF) covered 250,000 premises in previous three months to reach 850,000 total
Open Dutch Fiber (ODF), which offers broadband, TV and other services to consumers and businesses across the Netherlands passed 850,000 premises by the end of May. It looks like it will achieve its goal of passing 1 million premises this year somewhat early: having brought fibre to 250,000 in the last three months.
ODF says it is the largest independent, open-access wholesale provider of fibre connections in the Netherlands. Retail service providers that offer services on its infrastructure include T-Mobile, Trined, Fiber.nl and Freedom Internet, often upgrading their customers from cable or xDSL networks.
Not the only wholesaler
However, ONF is not the only game in town: in May T-Mobile and DELTA Fiber entered into a long-term agreement to provide services via each other’s networks.
From now on, T-Mobile’s internet and TV services are available via fibre to households that are or will be connected to the DELTA Fiber network, which offers speeds of up to 10 Gbps. DELTA Fiber connects 1.3 million households and businesses via fibre, and is targeting 2 million.
T-Mobile intends to use DELTA Fiber’s fibre network to accelerate the rollout of its 5G network.
Consolidation?
In a relatively small, if densely populated country, consolidation among rival fibre altnets looks inevitable, sooner or later. ODF’s shareholders include KKR and DTCP, and the company publicly states it is always on the lookout for opportunities to grow by acquiring completed fibre infrastructure or networks still under construction.
For now though, “We are delighted to have reached this milestone [of 850,000],” said CEO Floris van den Broek. “It shows our unwavering commitment to providing reliable, blazingly-fast connectivity to Dutch households. We will continue to accelerate our efforts and bring fibre to even more homes.”
Fibre overtakes cable
In the final quarter of 2022, fibre had a greater share of the Dutch broadband revenues than cable, winning a 38.4% share of the residential broadband market, with cable falling to 37.6% of revenues from 39.7% a year earlier. It is expected to overtake cable in terms of the number of connections in 2024, or possibly sooner the way things are going.