Dutch operator KPN announced the start of its earlier announced relaunch of the FTTH roll-out in the Netherlands. The company expects to connect an average 6,500 households per week to fibre in the course of this year. This should lead to another 338,000 households passed by year-end. The company aims to add in total 1 million homes passed by the end of 2021, giving around 40 percent of homes in the Netherlands access to FTTH.
Its current footprint reaches around 30 percent of homes, or 2.3 million addresses. The kick-off of the network roll-out was held in the city of Zwolle, where construction work has begun in the northeast of the city and the first homes are expected to have access from April. Other ares where construction is starting include the Spijker area of Arnhem and the De Biezen neighbourhood in Dongen.
In addition to the FTTH expansion, KPN plans to complete the roll-out of fibre to the cabinet (FTTC) this year. Another half a million households should benefit from faster broadband speeds as a result.