Half of Dutch citizens can work better from home thanks to fiber

Rotterdam, 23 June 2021 – Five out of ten Dutch people with a fiber internet connection can work from home better and/or experience fewer frustrations about their internet since having a fiber connection. One in three even says they can no longer do without fiber. More than half of Dutch people with a fiber connection would rather go a day without coffee than a day without fiber. This is clear from a survey conducted by research agency Kien on behalf of KPN on the occasion of the company installing its three millionth fiber connection.

Fast internet is essential
In total, 3.9 million of the approximately 8 million Dutch addresses are now connected to fiber. KPN will add more than three million connections by 2026, so that 80% of Dutch households will have high-speed KPN internet within five years. The Dutch see the importance of this. Six out of ten people with a fiber connection say that their high-speed internet connection is more than sufficient for an entire family and that in a few years’ time, a fiber connection will be essential for daily internet activities. Two thirds think that without fiber, the Netherlands would lag behind the rest of the world in the years ahead. Eight out of ten people with fiber consider good internet to be a basic requirement, but generally think it is going too far to call it a necessity for life. “Food and a roof over your head. Those are the necessities of life. Fiber is nice to have,” said one of the respondents.

Better homeworking
KPN has significantly increased the pace of fiber installation in recent years and now connects around 9,000 new households every week. This turned out to be a blessing last year when the COVID-19 measures were in force, especially for homeworkers. Half of the respondents said they were able to work from home better since getting fiber. Seven out of ten Dutch people give their fiber internet connection a score of eight or higher and more than three quarters have noticed an improvement in stability and speed. Respondents indicate that since they have been using fiber, they stream more films (40%), stream more music (30%), and a fifth spend more time on gaming and/or hobbies.

Fewer irritations
We know that slow internet and poor Wi-Fi cause a lot of irritation in a household. Among the respondents, almost a fifth of those from multi-person households said that there are fewer irritations at home since connecting to fiber. And one in seven users (also) said their mood had improved. If Dutch people with a fiber internet connection had to choose, more than half would rather go a day without coffee than without fiber. The research shows that three in ten people would rather have a day without good food and one in five even said they would rather have a day without heating in the winter than a day without fiber.

About KPN
KPN has been connecting people, companies and, increasingly, devices to each other for more than a century. With its fixed and mobile networks KPN is literally embedded in the Netherlands. Everyone in the Netherlands – whether a KPN customer or not – makes use of our network every day, directly or indirectly. That is why KPN is rightfully called the network of the Netherlands.

About this research
This study was conducted from 4-8 June 2021 by the Kien research agency, which surveyed nearly 3,000 Dutch people aged 16 and over, a representative sample of the Netherlands based on gender, age, education level, employment, family situation, region, and province. Of the 3000, 1,084 respondents use a fiber internet connection. This group were asked to respond to the research questions. 1057 respondents answered all the questions.