KPN makes SuperWifi visibly more sustainable
From today, KPN’s well-known SuperWiFi points have a new color. The white points have become black. They are made from recycled plastic and, in their black finish, they are more environmentally friendly to produce and easier to recycle. KPN customers are also benefiting from a number of technical improvements. For example, the black SuperWiFi points are equipped with the latest standard: WiFi 6 and each point is fitted with two ethernet connections. In addition to the latest modem, the 4K iTV tuner and the SIM card, the SuperWiFi points are now also made from recycled material. With this, KPN, one of the world’s most sustainable telecom providers, is taking another step towards the goal of being almost completely circular by 2025.
Less plastic and circular
“To achieve our circular target, we are subjecting everything in the chain to research, to see where we can make it more sustainable”, says Jean-Pascal Van Overbeke, KPN’s Chief of Consumer Market and member of the Board of Management. Practice shows that the production of white recycled plastic and the associated finishing layer causes a greater burden on the environment than the making of black plastic. With the renewal of the SuperWiFi points, the choice was swiftly made. The new SuperWiFi points are 33 per cent smaller than the previous ones. What’s more, the material can also be reprocessed for new purposes after. This way, KPN is not only reducing the mountain of plastic, but is also going further, by making packaging materials plastic-free. “This means that we are also meeting a legitimate wish of many customers in terms of sustainability. We see that more than of half of customers indicate that sustainability plays a role in their choice of their telecom provider.” A nice side-effect is that many customers indicate that they also like the look of the ‘black’ SuperWiFi points.
Future ready
The black SuperWiFi points use the latest generation of wireless internet: WiFi 6. What 5G is to mobile internet, WiFi 6 is to fixed internet. This makes faster internet possible for multiple devices at the same time. In addition to telephones and laptops, more and more devices at home are connected to the internet. Just think of security equipment or a smart thermostat. Thanks to WiFi 6 at the renewed SuperWiFi point, customers are experiencing an even faster, more stable, and more interference-free WiFi signal. KPN’s fiber customers are even better able to supply their home devices with the best symmetrical speeds, thanks to WiFi 6. In addition to WiFi 6, an extra ethernet port has been added (2 ports in total) to make it easier to directly connect important devices at home.
From today, customers who order the new SuperWiFi points via the WiFi Manager app, online, via customer service, or in KPN shops will receive the renewed black variant.