KPN wants ACM to declare the offer, which would apply for the next eight years, binding. The telecom provider, which now has more than 3 million households connected to its fiber optic cables, wants to create security in the coming years, while expanding the network alone and with its partners to 80% of the approximately 8 million households in the Netherlands.
The ACM calls the proposal ‘meaningful’ and announces today that it will conduct an investigation into the rates and ‘continue’ other investigations. “KPN and Glaspoort are taking a significant step with this, because the access rates they are proposing are substantially lower than the current ones. Based on this, we will prepare a draft decision in the next two weeks that we will submit to the market,” says Manon Leijten, board member of the ACM.
Concerns about competition
KPN achieved €663 million in 2021, one eighth of its turnover, from the lease of lines to competitors such as T-Mobile and Youfone. Until just under two years ago, the rates for this were set by the ACM. However, a judge ruled that the market did not need regulation. Since then, wholesale customers have complained about the high rates that KPN would charge. ACM had indicated that it was concerned about risks to competition in the market and was working on an investigation, the results of which should have been announced in the first quarter.
The 10% decrease in tariffs applies to more than 3 million households that will be equipped with fiber optic until 2020. Since then, KPN has been using a different technology, for which it charges higher rates to its wholesale customers. The rates for the fiber connections with this rate, currently 200,000, will be reduced by 10 to 30% according to the proposal.
According to Chris Figee, CFO of KPN, his company is making the offer ‘in a growing realization that superfast and stable internet is becoming increasingly important for everyone’. “Long-term certainty is also very important for KPN in order to be able to continue making the extensive, planned investments and to provide the whole of the Netherlands with fiber at a rapid pace. We have asked ACM to assess whether these proposals can be declared binding, so that there is clarity for the market for the next eight years.”