Telecommunication in the Netherlands
The development of telecommunications in the Netherlands is roughly equivalent to the average of the European Union. Under the country code +31, there were a total of 27.32 m connections in 2019. Among them were 21.76 m million mobile phones, which corresponds to an average of 1.3 per person. In the EU, this figure is 1.2 mobile phones per person.In the expansion of broadband Internet connections the Netherlands is very well in the race. Around 93% of all residents have access to the Internet. Approximately 43% have their own fast Internet connection, which is at least faster than the previous ISDN (more than 2048 kbit/s).
With about 13.70 m webhosts, the Netherlands is well above the world's average.
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Development of telephone and internet connections
With an average download speed of 156.69 Mbit/second for fixed-network broadband internet, the Netherlands ranked 25th in an international comparison. The upload rate was only 78.97 Mbit/second (27th place). The quality of the Internet, consisting of signal fluctuations (jitter) and latency, is very far ahead at 20th place.In mobile internet, i.e. on tablets and smartphones, the Netherlands comes 12th with a download speed of 103.12 Mbit/second. The upload speed of around 22 Mbit was only enough for 9th place.
The "Speedtest Global Index" published regularly by Ookla is based on several million individual measurements in Mai 2021 from 180 countries.
The following diagrams show the development of the various telephone and Internet connections as a percentage of the country's population. Values above 100% mean that, on average, every inhabitant has more than one connection.
Access to the Internet in the Netherlands from 1990 - 2019
Broadband internet in the Netherlands 1998 - 2019
Landlines 1990 - 2019
Mobile phones 1990 - 2019
| Distribution in 2019 | Netherlands Total | Netherlands percent | EU Total | EU percent |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Internet users | 16.18 m | 93.29 % | 382.04 m | 85.43 % |
| Broadband users | 7.46 m | 43.00 % | 158.30 m | 35.40 % |
| Landlines | 5.56 m | 32.06 % | 165.48 m | 37.00 % |
| Mobile cellulars | 21.76 m | 125.47 % | 542.60 m | 121.33 % |