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We're seeing some hugely impressive 4G Availability scores in the Netherlands, as all four operators are now well over 93%. KPN's score jumped by nearly 3 percentage points to force a three-way tie with Tele2 and Vodafone, with just 0.3 of a point separating the three winning scores.
T-Mobile kept our Download Speed Experience awards with an increase of close to 3 Mbps. But KPN and Vodafone both saw growth of around 5 Mbps in this metric, allowing them to close the gap on the leader.
Vodafone increased its Video Experience score by over 3 points to reach 76.5 (out of 100) and pull ahead of T-Mobile to win our award. Vodafone also becomes the first Dutch operator to earn an Excellent rating, meaning our users enjoy fast loading and very little stalling, even at high resolutions.
All four operators scored over 95% 4G Availability in Rotterdam, while our users on T-Mobile's network in the city saw a Latency Experience score under 30ms. Meanwhile in The Hague, Vodafone scored a lightning-fast 61 Mbps in Download Speed Experience.
There's now little doubt that mobile networks in the Netherlands are reaching maturity. In this report, we've seen all four of the country's national operators come within a couple of percentage points of the 95% mark in 4G Availability, while Vodafone has become the first to achieve an Excellent Video Experience score.
But despite the high levels of maturity, there are still big changes on the horizon for Dutch telecoms. The merger of T-Mobile and Tele2 was approved in November last year, but for now the operators continue to exist as different brands, so we will treat them as separate operators in this report. And the operators have been relatively quiet on the 5G front, as they likely await the auction of spectrum resources expected within the next six months.
In this report, we've analyzed our data gathered in the 90 days from the start of May 2019 to see how the Netherlands’ four national operators — KPN, T-Mobile, Tele2 and Vodafone — stack up. We've included analysis of our five key award metrics in the three largest Dutch cities, Amsterdam, Rotterdam and The Hague, to see how the mobile network experience for our users in the Netherlands' metros compares.
| Mobile Experience Awards Netherlands | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
September 2019,
Netherlands Report
|
T
Tele2
|
V
Vodafone
|
K
KPN
|
T
T-Mobile
|
4G Availability
| ||||
Video Experience
| ||||
Download Speed Experience
| ||||
Upload Speed Experience
| ||||
Latency Experience
| ||||
|
Mobile Experience Awards Winners
|
September 2019,
Netherlands
|
|---|---|
|
Video Experience
|
V
Vodafone
|
|
Download Speed Experience
|
T
T-Mobile
|
|
Upload Speed Experience
|
T
T-Mobile
|
|
Latency Experience
|
T
T-Mobile
|
|
Mobile Experience Awards Draws
|
September 2019, Netherlands
|
|---|---|
|
4G Availability
|
T
Tele2
V
Vodafone
K
KPN
|
Competition in our 4G Availability metric is so tight it's hard to breathe. The country has always been among the global leaders in 4G reach, and this keeps improving, with three operators now within touching distance of the 95% milestone. Indeed, there was so little light between KPN, Tele2 and Vodafone's scores — just 0.3 of a percentage point — that we saw a three-way draw in this report for our 4G Availability award.
Tele2 came top of our 4G Availability table in our last report, but two of its rivals have now caught up, with a particularly impressive sprint coming from KPN which saw its score increase by nearly 3 percentage points to join the nearly-95% club. And fourth-placed T-Mobile also impressed with an increase of 1.5 percentage points to close the gap with the three leaders to barely 1 point.
Our users on all four of the Netherlands’ national mobile networks now enjoy 4G Availability scores well over 93%. Our analyses in other leading markets suggests that we can expect growth in this metric to slow almost to a standstill, as it becomes very hard to push 4G Availability over 95%, even in smaller countries with fewer geographical challenges like Holland. Nonetheless, the scores we are measuring in the Netherlands are hugely impressive, and our users there are enjoying a superb 4G experience.
Vodafone won our Video Experience award, increasing its score by over 3 points to reach 76.5 (on a scale of 0-100) to not only overtake T-Mobile, but also become the first Dutch operator to gain an Excellent rating (75-100). This means our users on Vodafone's network enjoy very quick video loading times and virtually no stuttering or stalling, even at high resolutions. But it was our users on KPN's network who saw the greatest improvement in their Video Experience, with their score growing by over 4.5 points to come tantalizingly close to the 75 point mark — and force a draw with T-Mobile for second place.
|
Video Experience
Additional Metrics |
T
Tele2
|
V
Vodafone
|
K
KPN
|
T
T-Mobile
|
|---|---|---|---|---|
| in 0-100 points | ||||
|
4G Video Experience
| 68.1 (± 0.88) | 77.4 (± 0.36) | 77.5 (± 0.35) | 76.9 (± 0.49) |
|
3G Video Experience
| 50.4 (± 4.01) | 58.7 (± 2.90) | 41.3 (± 3.24) | 49.3 (± 4.13) |
| 4G Video Experience | in 0-100 points |
|
T
Tele2
|
68 (± 0.88) |
|
V
Vodafone
|
77 (± 0.36) |
|
K
KPN
|
78 (± 0.35) |
|
T
T-Mobile
|
77 (± 0.49) |
| 3G Video Experience | in 0-100 points |
|
T
Tele2
|
50 (± 4.01) |
|
V
Vodafone
|
59 (± 2.90) |
|
K
KPN
|
41 (± 3.24) |
|
T
T-Mobile
|
49 (± 4.13) |
We can understand how Vodafone has pulled ahead in overall Video Experience by looking at our supporting video metrics. The operator has grown its users’ 4G-only Video Experience score by almost 3 points in the past six months — the largest increase of any of the operators in this metric. Meanwhile its users’ 3G Video Experience jumped over 7 points to earn it a Good rating (55-65) — quite a rare achievement on 3G networks. As 4G Availability approaches 95%, 3G networks in the Netherlands are arguably approaching obsolescence. But with the scores so close across so many of our metrics, even small increases in our 3G metrics can make the difference to winning our top awards.
T-Mobile kept hold of our Download Speed Experience award, with a hugely impressive score of 52.9 Mbps — one of the highest national average speeds we have ever reported on. T-Mobile's score was also up by over 5% since our last report — but despite this increase, its rivals are closing the gap on the leader. Our users on KPN and Vodafone's networks saw double-digit percentage increases in both their scores — of 12.3% and 15.3% respectively — as both operators crossed the 40 Mbps mark. Meanwhile, we saw statistically no change in Tele2's score, meaning the fourth-placed operator is drifting further behind the pack.
|
Download Speed Experience
Additional Metrics |
T
Tele2
|
V
Vodafone
|
K
KPN
|
T
T-Mobile
|
|---|---|---|---|---|
| in Mbps | ||||
|
4G Download Speed
| 39.1 (± 1.10) | 46.7 (± 0.91) | 45.2 (± 0.83) | 56.4 (± 1.05) |
|
3G Download Speed
| 3.2 (± 0.14) | 7.5 (± 0.40) | 4.4 (± 0.24) | 6.2 (± 0.52) |
| 4G Download Speed | in Mbps |
|
T
Tele2
|
39 (± 1.10) |
|
V
Vodafone
|
47 (± 0.91) |
|
K
KPN
|
45 (± 0.83) |
|
T
T-Mobile
|
56 (± 1.05) |
| 3G Download Speed | in Mbps |
|
T
Tele2
|
3 (± 0.14) |
|
V
Vodafone
|
8 (± 0.40) |
|
K
KPN
|
4 (± 0.24) |
|
T
T-Mobile
|
6 (± 0.52) |
The reason for Vodafone's growth spurt can be found in our 4G Download Speed scores. Our users on the operator's network saw their 4G-only score jump by 14%, allowing Vodafone to pull ahead of the pack to secure second place in our overall Download Speed Experience rankings. Statistically, T-Mobile saw no change in its 4G Download Speed score, but at 56 Mbps it remains over 11 Mbps faster than its closest rival.
T-Mobile kept hold of our Upload Speed Experience award with a score of 14 Mbps — over 2 Mbps faster than its closest rival. KPN and Vodafone followed with respective scores of 11.5 Mbps and 10.6 Mbps, while Tele2 remains well behind the pack in this metric.
|
Upload Speed Experience
Additional Metrics |
T
Tele2
|
V
Vodafone
|
K
KPN
|
T
T-Mobile
|
|---|---|---|---|---|
| in Mbps | ||||
|
4G Upload Speed
| 8.7 (± 0.28) | 11.0 (± 0.23) | 12.3 (± 0.28) | 14.9 (± 0.34) |
|
3G Upload Speed
| 2.0 (± 0.20) | 2.2 (± 0.18) | 1.0 (± 0.07) | 1.7 (± 0.19) |
| 4G Upload Speed | in Mbps |
|
T
Tele2
|
9 (± 0.28) |
|
V
Vodafone
|
11 (± 0.23) |
|
K
KPN
|
12 (± 0.28) |
|
T
T-Mobile
|
15 (± 0.34) |
| 3G Upload Speed | in Mbps |
|
T
Tele2
|
2 (± 0.20) |
|
V
Vodafone
|
2 (± 0.18) |
|
K
KPN
|
1 (± 0.07) |
|
T
T-Mobile
|
2 (± 0.19) |
Our overall upload speed scores were mirrored in our 4G Upload Speed measurements, where our users on T-Mobile's 4G network enjoyed speeds of close to 15 Mbps, while Tele2's score was under 9 Mbps. Interestingly though, Tele2 fared much better in 3G Upload Speed, with a score second only to Vodafone — which was unexpected since Tele2 effectively piggybacks on T-Mobile's 3G network.
Our latency scores are all moving gently in the right direction. T-Mobile kept its lead in Latency Experience with a score approaching the 30 milliseconds mark, while our users on the other three operators' networks all saw steady improvements in their scores. This pattern was reflected across our 4G Latency measurements, where all four of the Netherlands' national operators saw their scores improve by close to 1ms.
|
Latency Experience
Additional Metrics |
T
Tele2
|
V
Vodafone
|
K
KPN
|
T
T-Mobile
|
|---|---|---|---|---|
| in ms | ||||
|
4G Latency
| 41.9 (± 0.29) | 36.5 (± 0.14) | 36.2 (± 0.14) | 29.9 (± 0.16) |
|
3G Latency
| 53.4 (± 2.21) | 49.9 (± 1.00) | 63.5 (± 1.78) | 51.1 (± 2.20) |
| 4G Latency | in ms |
|
T
Tele2
|
42 (± 0.29) |
|
V
Vodafone
|
36 (± 0.14) |
|
K
KPN
|
36 (± 0.14) |
|
T
T-Mobile
|
30 (± 0.16) |
| 3G Latency | in ms |
|
T
Tele2
|
53 (± 2.21) |
|
V
Vodafone
|
50 (± 1.00) |
|
K
KPN
|
63 (± 1.78) |
|
T
T-Mobile
|
51 (± 2.20) |
The extremely close scores we saw in national 4G Availability were reflected in the Netherlands’ biggest cities. In fact, we saw a four-way draw between the operators in all three of the cities we analyzed — Amsterdam, Rotterdam and The Hague — with very little light between their scores. The high levels of both 4G reach and competition were particularly apparent in Rotterdam, where all four operators scored over 95% 4G Availability, with less than a percentage point separating their scores.
It was also a pretty close-run race in Video Experience in our city analysis. We saw draws in all three cities — between Vodafone and KPN in Rotterdam and The Hague and Vodafone and T-Mobile in Amsterdam — while our users on all three of these networks in all three cities enjoyed an Excellent Video Experience.
There were a couple of other milestones broken in our analysis of Netherlands cities. In The Hague, Vodafone managed to smash the 60 Mbps Download Speed Experience barrier, while in Rotterdam our users on T-Mobile's network saw a Latency Experience score under 30ms.
Select any region or city below to display individual breakdown
Collecting billions of individual measurements daily from over 100 million devices globally, Opensignal independently analyzes mobile user experience on every major network operator around the globe.
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