In the third quarter of 2023, data consumption on mobile reached 558 million gigabytes, the highest quarterly consumption ever.
This is according to figures from the Authority Consumer & Market, which has kept statistics on the mobile phone market since the beginning of 2014. Compared to the second quarter, data consumption increased by 44 million gigabytes. That quarter also saw exceptionally high data consumption.
The number of data-only SIM cards increased by 14,000 to nearly one million. Strong growth was also observed for machine-to-machine SIM cards, which allow smart devices to process data. The total number of connections with this type of SIM card increased by about 800,000 to 17.3 million.
In particular, the big three telecom providers supply most of the Netherlands with data services. According to ACM figures, Odido had the largest market share in the third quarter of last year, 30 per cent to 35 per cent. This was followed by KPN and VodafoneZiggo, with 25 per cent to 30 per cent and 20 per cent to 25 per cent, respectively. Other providers fill in the rest of the market.
Declining trend in call minutes
At the same time, it is noticeable that the Dutch are taking fewer mobile call minutes. The number of call minutes on mobile decreased by 7.43 per cent compared to the previous quarter. The Netherlands collectively took 9 billion call minutes. There has been a decline in the number of mobile call minutes. For example, in the second quarter of 2022, the Netherlands still called 10.9 billion minutes via mobile.