Odido steals a march on rivals with FWA launch

It is called Klik&Klaar, which roughly translates to 'click and done', and highlights the ease with which customers can get online relative to a fixed broadband service.

It runs on Odido's 3.5-GHz spectrum, offering that optimal blend of coverage and capacity that comes with mid-band frequencies. The telco has already rolled out 3.5-GHz coverage to between 75% and 80% of the country, and plans to deploy it at every one of its sites by the end of this year.

As its name suggests, in order to get online, Klik&Klaar customers simply switch on their modem, wait for it to find a 5G signal, and then do a bit of configuring with the app. Odido didn't say how much the service will cost, only that it will be a "surprisingly low" monthly price.

"Odido started a year ago with a clear mission: everyone should be able to participate. We show that we can do things differently and put our customers at the centre of this," said Tisha van Lammeren, chief commercial officer of Odido's Mass Market division. "With Klik&Klaar Internet, we are therefore taking another important step, being the first provider to offer a full, fast and user-friendly alternative for all households in the Netherlands, even in places where this was not previously available."

That's not very many places. By Odido's own admission, the number of addresses in the Netherlands that are not currently served by a fibre network and that are not due to receive coverage under current deployment plans is a lowly 20,000.

According to the FTTH Council's most recent stats, the Netherlands ranks in the top 10 in Europe when it comes fibre coverage, with 81.9% of homes passed as of September 2023. In terms of numbers, 6.8 million of the country's 8.3 million households have access to fibre.

However, the Netherlands underperforms when it comes to take-up rate. It stood at 38.8% this time last year, well below the 52.7% average across the EU 27 plus the UK, and nowhere near the heady heights of first-placed Spain, which enjoys a take-up rate of 85.8%.

It suggests that when it comes to full fibre, something is turning consumers off, be it headline speeds, more compelling alternatives like VodafoneZiggo's cable service, or prices.

Indeed, according to the EU's most recent related stats, in 2022, fixed broadband tariffs in the Netherlands were "significantly" more expensive compared to the EU average. Salaries also tend to be more generous in the Netherlands, but perhaps not enough to take the sting out of those higher subscription fees.

As a result, Klik&Klaar's "surprisingly low" monthly price – whatever that turns out to mean – could make the difference when it comes to the success or otherwise of Odido's FWA service.