KPN warmly welcomes all telecommunications providers looking to deliver high-quality services throughout the Netherlands. Our company seeks to offer wholesale partners a wide selection of services through our networks. We have been providing these services – on both a regulated and a non-regulated basis – for more than two decades. In light of the ACM’s (Netherlands Authority for Consumers & Markets) plans to launch a new regulatory strategy which could potentially create long-term market uncertainty, KPN’s expanded range of non-mandatory services (offering its customers a 7-year period of guaranteed access to its fixed networks) ensures that consumers in the Netherlands can continue to choose from a range of broadband connections.
KPN provides various types of access, some of which involve large-scale investments in our own nationwide network, so as to remain a player in the Dutch fixed broadband market. Wholesale partners can have immediate access to KPN’s existing high-quality VDSL and fiber-optic network, which reaches into just about every home in the Netherlands. Not surprisingly, KPN’s network is among the very best in Europe when it comes to capacity, stability, and security.
In order to deliver the highest-quality services to our customers and be able to meet the growing demand for bandwidth among both consumers and business customers, KPN never stops investing in its networks and services. This allows its customers access to increasingly faster, more reliable, and more secure connections. Wholesale partners also benefit from the investments KPN makes in its network.
In order to facilitate nationwide access to KPN’s fixed network, these partners used to be forced to install hardware in more than 1,000 locations. The large investments involved in these efforts restricted opportunities for innovation for both the wholesale partner and KPN, but several years ago KPN Introduced its Wholesale Broadband Access (WBA) services, where KPN’s future-proof network can be accessed from just one or a few locations. As part of KPN’s Virtual Unbundled Local Access (VULA) service, launched in 2015, wholesale partners install their hardware in the deeper reaches of the KPN network. KPN is aware that its wholesale partners are still required to make their own investments in order to eventually be able to provide end-user services, and that they therefore demand security for these investments. To be able to provide this long-term security, KPN is willing to commit to offering guaranteed access to its network for a minimum period of seven years. KPN is willing to formalize its commitment to the expanded non-mandatory services through the ACM; the latter will then be responsible for ensuring that KPN fulfills these commitments.
In expanding its non-mandatory range of services, KPN provides access to the following service types:
• Wholesale Broadband Access (‘WBA’): this facilitates access to KPN’s network from one (or, if required, several) national location(s) without any substantial investments being required. This option should be of particular interest to smaller businesses or those just starting out in the telecommunications market.
• Virtual Unbundled Access (‘VULA’): the future-proof alternative to access to physically unbundled connection lines. This investment model, designed for wholesale users, requires hardware to be installed in a maximum of 161 locations. Provided this occurs on a large enough scale, this will result in lower monthly rates than the standard WBA services.
• ODF access to FttH: if a wholesale partner has already opted to purchase physically unbundled access to KPN’s FttH network, this will remain possible in locations where this access is already provided.
KPN provides long-term security for all three access types and rate plans. Wholesale partners are free to decide which of these types is most compatible with their business strategy. All three types provide a solution for curbing operating expenses while at the same time allowing users to benefit from KPN’s upgrades to the network. Physically unbundled access to KPN’s copper network through MDF access is not future-proof and stifles innovation, and KPN will therefore gradually be phasing out this type of access.
In addition to access services, KPN also provides a wide selection of value-added services for telephone, Internet, and cable access. Wholesale partners can also opt for pay-as-you-go models and, if required, switch to models that require a higher level of self-reliance. The contracts signed between KPN and its wholesale partners guarantee quality and security of supply over many years
and provide wholesale partners with the certainty that they can continue to deliver state-of-the-art broadband services to a wide customer base in the Netherlands in the future.
Below you will find all Wholesale documents relating to the extended voluntary services. On Monday, May 19, 2014, KPN made a proposal for an Open Wholesale Model during the Industry Group Hypothesis session on Market Analyses. Below you will find the Open Wholesale Model Position Paper.
For further information about the rates of VULA services, please contact your KPN Wholesale Account Manager. If you are not currently a KPN Wholesale customer and would like more information about our VULA services , you can contact us by completing the Contact Form.
KPN has drafted a whitepaper outlining its perspective on the consultation for the fixed broadband market. If you are interested, you can request a copy of this document from Iris van der Hart by email: iris.vanderhart@kpn.com.
You will find all the relevant information concerning "verbrede vrijwillige aanbod 2018' ('extended voluntary offer 2018') below in the Dutch language. In case you need the information in English please contact KPN Wholesale.
