The three-year investment plan is part of the telco’s strategy to support digitalisation in the Netherlands and is expected to bring revenue growth by the end of 2021.
KPN said the invested funds would support its work to double the number of households with super-fast internet via fibre by the end of 2025. This will be followed by a long-term strategy to replace copper with fibre so “more than 80% of the Netherlands will have access to a connection at the speed of light through KPN”.
Starting next year, approximately 500,000 new lines will be rolled out annually – a figure KPN said is a “record number” – and in three years’ time, more than half of the Netherlands will have fibre from KPN in the meter cupboard, reaching 65% by 2025.
Joost Farwerck, CEO of KPN, said: “Good connections have never been more important than now. Never before have so many people worked at home. The Netherlands is gaining momentum due to COVID-19 and the call for safe, reliable and fast internet is increasing. In the future, more and more devices in and around the home will be directly connected to the internet and all kinds of essential services - from healthcare to education - will be digitally supported. Then fibre is essential.”
The announcement was made during a presentation of KPN’s Accelerate to Grow strategy, which will also see the firm continue to open up its network to competing providers.
On digitalising its customer services, KPN said it was “committed to improving” the B2C MijnKPN app. It said: “In this way KPN wants to open up a world of content, entertainment and gaming together with digital partners”.
Farwerck added: “Our strategy is not so much a change of course as an acceleration. We are accelerating, as is the digitization of our society. We are accelerating the roll-out of fibre, we are improving the digital customer experience and we are renewing the way we work. In doing so, we help the Netherlands in the digitization that is currently underway and allow KPN to grow again.”
