Telecommunication in the Netherlands

Development of telephone and internet connections

With an average download speed of 121.55 Mbit/second for fixed-network broadband internet, the Netherlands rank 20th in an international comparison. The upload rate of only 39.54 Mbit/second was significantly lower (46th place).
In mobile internet, i.e., on tablets and smartphones, the Netherlands come 7th with a download speed of 112.15 Mbit/second. The upload speed of around 17 Mbit was only enough for 14th place.

The Speedtest Global Index published regularly by Ookla is based on several million individual measurements in December 2022 from 178 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 percent mean that, on average, every inhabitant has more than one connection.

Access to the internet in the Netherlands from 1990 - 2021

Broadband internet in the Netherlands 1998 - 2021

The Netherlands is doing very well in the expansion of broadband internet connections. Around 92 percent of all residents have access to the internet. Around 43 percent have their own fast internet connection, which is at least faster than the former ISDN (more than 256 kbit/s). All fixed connections via DSL, cable or satellite were counted here, but not those connected to the internet via mobile communications. With around 2.1 people per household, this means that around 91.2 percent of all households are equipped with a high-speed internet connection.

The increasing prevalence of cell phones and the simultaneous decline in the number of fixed-network phones also indicate a change here. While the number of fixed-network phones has declined over the past few years, the number of cell phones has increased noticeably at the same time. Most recently, there were 125 cell phone contracts per 100 people. This trend can be observed worldwide, but is not yet as pronounced in Wakanda as in some other countries.