MAP > Internet Providers in Belgium

The Belgium telecom market has been relatively small but it has attracted the investment from some of the region’s major players, and this includes the Liberty Global as well as Orange Group. There has been very significant growth in competitive landscape in the recent years. In the mid-2018, regulator imposed some amended conditions on the market players that are aimed at encouraging the investment in the underserved areas and also for securing the wholesale access to the copper as well as the fiber infrastructure. Three network operators usually serve the mobile market. They are namely Proximus, Orange Belgium, and the BASE/ Telenet and by a number of the MVNOs. The mobile networks have had some upgrade with the LTE technology to be able to support the developing mobile data use among the subscribers while the Proxims and the Telenet have gone ahead and initiated trials to develop the services, based on the 5G. The Commercial 5G services have been expected soon after an auction of the 3.5GHz spectrum in early 2019.

The mobile market continues to get transformed, and in particular with the MVNOs shifting between the networks. Government is very keen to set a framework that could enable the new player to be able to enter the market in the year 2019. The existing operators have been opposed to such the move, hence citing harsh competitive conditions as well as pressure on both the revenue as well as investment in the sector.

The characteristic of this market is the customer preference for the quad play services, and to that end, the MNOs have been strengthening the fixed-line offerings. In such a landscape, mobile-only offers the struggle to be able to gain the customers in the coming years. In the broadband sector, there has been an effective competition between DSL as well as cable platforms, while in recent years government support has encouraged investment in the fiber networks. The Telenet, which is supported by the parent Liberty Global, which has invested in the developing services based on new DOCSIS3.1 standard, that is capable of offering data at 1Gb/s and even higher.

The company has been expected that all of the nodes will be upgraded to offer the gigabit service by the mid-2019. Well, Proximus has been able to embark on the 3 billion pounds, ‘The Fiber for Belgium’ that is going to see close to 85% of the business as well as 50% or the residential premises served with the FttH or the VDSL/FttB by the year 2027.