KPN reports a 60% increase in EU data roaming this summer
Dutch operator KPN said its customers used 60 percent more data traffic this summer while roaming in Europe than in the same period in 2021. Roaming traffic grew faster than the overall annual growth rate in data traffic of 30-50 percent, as more people resumed travel and the Dutch adopt bigger mobile data bundles. kpn data roaming
In recent months, the Dutch have again been on summer holidays en masse. Together with the foreign telecom operators, KPN processed record amounts of data traffic from Dutch people during the summer holidays.
An analysis of roaming traffic shows that the Dutch are more eager to travel than in the summer of 2021. The fact that France was again a popular holiday destination is clearly reflected in roaming traffic. The Spanish and Italian networks were also heavily visited by Dutch people.
With an increase of 60%, roaming traffic is growing even faster than the annual increase in data traffic of about 30 to 50%. So the brakes seem to be completely off for calling and surfing the internet with the smartphone while on holiday. And because the Dutch have increasingly larger data bundles, more and more holidaymakers prefer 4G and 5G over (camping) WiFi.
Roaming traffic also peaks on Black Saturdays
The busiest days are Saturdays and to a lesser extent Sundays in July. These are the ‘black Saturdays’ on which the Dutch travel en masse to their holiday destination. While they are stuck on the highways to the south, full use is made of digital highways.
Navigation apps and streaming movies and music on the go
For example, many drivers use a navigation app and more and more movies and music are also streamed by travelers. Week 32, the second week of August, is the busiest week in terms of roaming traffic. Most Dutch people were probably traveling at the time. And never before has so much roaming traffic been generated in a month as last August. It is also clearly visible when the various Dutch regions (North, Central and South) have school holidays. Last summer vacation, the Central region was the first to turn, followed by North and South.
Not only the data traffic is increasing. Last summer there were also slightly more calls than in the summer of 2021. The increase in voice traffic is less in percentage, in line with the trend in the market. Roaming traffic from holiday countries outside the EU is also increasing again, albeit less rapidly.
Roam Like Home
Since June 2017, calling, texting and using the internet have been the same everywhere in the European Union as in the Netherlands. In short; KPN customers can use their smartphones at all their favorite European holiday destinations as they are used to in the Netherlands.
