KPN strengthens FTTH commitment

Dutch telco KPN has announced a number of measures designed to strengthen its involvement in Fibre-to-the-Home (FTTH) networks in the Netherlands, including the acquisition of four fibre service providers.

The service providers are currently owned by Reggefiber (a specialist in the construction and operation of FTTH networks) and its principal shareholder Reggeborgh. They are: Edutel, XMS, and Concepts ICT from Reggeborgh and Lijbrandt from Reggefiber. Together, they serve around 110,000 customers, using Reggefiber’s FTTH network to deliver broadband, TV and telephony services.

As a second step, KPN also plans to acquire Reggefiber’s wholesale operator, Reggefiber Wholesale. This move is expected to allow Reggefiber to focus solely on the roll-out of FTTH and to operate an open access passive FTTH network.

Finally, KPN has also amended the joint-venture agreement it formed with Reggeborgh when setting up Reggefiber, in order to provide a clear roadmap towards ultimate control for KPN. At present, Reggeborgh controls 59 per cent of shares in Reggefiber, with KPN controlling the remaining 41 per cent.

These three steps are expected to play an important role in KPN’s efforts to gain control of more than 45 per cent of the Dutch broadband market by 2015. Reggefiber’s FTTH network had reached 687,000 Dutch homes connected by the end of the third quarter of this year, and 844,000 homes passed. The company still expects to have covered over 20% of the country’s population by 2013.