umlaut‘s network benchmarks are widely ­accepted as the de-facto industry standard and for being highly objective. The ­carefully designed methodology of our 2021 benchmark in the Netherlands reflects umlaut‘s ­holistic approach to network bench­marking. Its benchmarks com­bine ­drivetests and walktests to execute detailed voice and data measurements ­under ­controlled circumstances with a ­sophisti­cated crowdsourcing approach. This ­provides profound insights into the 
overall coverage of voice and data (with focus on 4G and 5G) ­services, real-­world User Down­load Speeds and the Quality of Broadband Service. The drivetests and walktests allow for evaluating the maximum of the networks‘ ­capabi­lities. Crowdsourcing reveals the service ­quality and ­performance actually experienced by real users. We have thoroughly weighted ­these components in order to give a realistic and ­authoritative assessment of the rated ­networks‘ true ­potential and performance.

Even in the time of the Corona pandemic, our analyses showed that the networks remained stable, though with somewhat altered customer usage patterns. When conducting this year‘s benchmark, we have of course carefully adapted the logistics to ensure maximum safety for our team members.

T-MOBILE IS THE OVERALL WINNER, KPN FOLLOWS AT A

DISTANCE OF EIGHT POINTS, BOTH ARE “OUTSTANDING“

T-Mobile managed to continue its winning streak, scoring best in the umlaut connect Mobile Benchmark in the Netherlands for the fifth time in a row and also achieving the highest score determined by umlaut worldwide in 2020. The win is achieved by a lead over KPN in the Crowdsourcing category, also T-Mobile scores best among all three competitors in the Voice category. KPN achieves the best results in the Data category and the second best in Voice, but falls a little behind in the Crowdsourcing score. Vodafone ranks third both in Voice and Data, but achieved the strongest Crowdsourcing results, scoring one point more than the overall winner T-Mobile.

In comparison to the results of the 2019 umlaut connect Mobile Benchmark in the Netherlands, which was published in spring 2019, all three operators have lost some points. This is not uncommon 
especially in countries with a very high performance level, as we continually raise the thresholds of our scoring in order to keep track with the technological advancement. Also, the Crowdsourcing methodo­logy was significantly updated, which makes the results in this discipline not 1:1 comparable to those of our previous benchmark.

T-Mobile is the overall winner, with KPN following at a distance of eight points. T-Mobile leads in Voice, KPN in Data. Both operators achieve the grade “outstanding“. Vodafone follows on third place, scoring 9 points behind KPN and closely leading the field in the crowdsourcing category.

In 2000, Deutsche Telekom bought a minority of the Dutch mobile network operator Ben, which was later extended to a 100 per cent acquisition. In 2003, Ben was renamed
T-Mobile Netherlands, with the brand “Ben“ be­coming a “no-frills“ offer within its port­folio. In 2007, T-Mobile NL additionally acquired Orange.
At the end of 2018, the company completed its ­acquisition of the smallest Dutch mobile operator, Tele2. By now, also the technical infrastructure of the formerly separate carriers has been ­merged, with Telekom holding 75 per cent and Tele2 holding 25 per cent 
of the assets. At the end of its fiscal year 2019, T-Moble Netherlands repor­ted a revenue of 1.9 billion Euros and 5.6 ­million mobile ­­subscribers. In late 2020, the company continued its series of acquisitions by absorbing the former MVNO Simpel, increasing its mobile customers to 6.7 million, making T-Mobile the largest Dutch mobile operator.
T-Mobile‘s network offers 2G mostly at 900 MHz, 3G at 2100 MHz and 4G/LTE at 800, 900, 1800, 2100 and 2600 MHz. Its 4G network supports both VoLTE as well as “4G+“ (carrier aggregation) up to 1 Gbps.
T-­Mobile launched 5G soon ­after the end of the spectrum auction in July 2020. At the end of October 2020, T-Mobile claimed that 90 per cent of the Dutch population lived within its 5G coverage area.

The Koninklijke PTT Nederland N.V. emerged from the privati­sation of the formerly state-owned PTT in 1998.

For its ­fiscal year 2019, the com­pany reported a ­total ­revenue of 5.5 billion Euros as well as 6.5 million mobile customers. In addition, KPN reports 3.3 million fixed broadband and 2.2 ­million interactive TV ­customers.

The ­company focuses on marketing its KPN brand, however with ­Simyo, ­Telfort and Ortel it also has offerings in the “no-frills“ segment.

KPN operates 2G/GSM at 900, 3G/UMTS at 900 and 2100 MHz and 4G/LTE at 800, 1400, 1800, 2100 and 2600 MHz. 3G is scheduled to be phased out by the end of 2021.

4G is ­operated with VoLTE as a standard as well as with ­“carrier ­aggre­gation”, which enables theore­tical download speeds of up 
to 1 Gbps.

KPN launched 5G at the end of July 2020, starting in most of the so-called Randstad area (Amsterdam, Rotterdam, The Hague and Utrecht) as well as Eindhoven, reaching about 
half of the Dutch ­population. The ­operator strives to reach nationwide 5G coverage 
in 2021.

The Dutch subsidiary of the international ­Vodafone Group acquired the operator Libertel in 2003, forming Vodafone Netherlands. In 2016, it merged with the cable and ­fibre operator Ziggo. Today, 50 per cent of the joint ­company VodafoneZiggo 
is owned by the Vodafone Group and another 50 per cent by ­Liberty Global. Currently, VodafoneZiggo is the smallest mobile operator in the Netherlands, reporting about 
5.1 million ­mobile cus­to­mers. The company also spe­cifies 3.9 million fixed (broadband, ­video and tele­phony) subscribers.
For its financial year 2019, VodafoneZiggo announced a turnover of 3.9 bn Euros, of which 1.4 bn were gained in its ­mobile business.
The company operates 2G networks 
at 900 and 1800 MHz, 3G at 2100 MHz 
and 4G/LTE at 800, 1800, 2100 and 2600 MHz. It was the first Dutch ­operator to phase out 3G in order to devote its spectrum to 4G and 5G. VoLTE is supported all over its 4G network, and with “4G+“ the operator ­offers carrier ­aggregation up to 1 Gbps.
Already at the end of April 2020, VodafoneZiggo was the first carrier of offer 5G all over the Netherlands, starting on already available frequencies and later extending the ­service to spectrum acquired in the ­frequency auction which had ended in July 2020. In late 2020, VodafoneZiggo claimed to already reach 80 per cent of the Dutch population, aiming at reaching national coverage soon.

umlaut, based in Aachen, Germany, is a world leader in mobile network ­testing. The company was formerly known as P3 and changed its name in fall 2019 in the course of restructuring and ­refocusing its activities. umlaut has over 4,500 employees, distributed over about 50 locations all over the world­, and a ­turnover of ­more than 400 mil­lion Euros. 

umlaut is partnering with the ­inter­national telecommunications magazine connect, which has more than 25 years of editorial expertise
and is one of the leading test ­authorities in ­Europe for tele­communica­tions ­products and services. ­Together, umlaut and connect ­have been conducting the most impor­tant network benchmark test in Germany
for more than 15 years, ­extending it to other ­European countries ­since 2009. As the de-facto industry standard, umlaut‘s benchmarking methodology focuses on customer-perceived network quality.

Conducting the 2021 umlaut connect ­Mobile Benchmark in the Netherlands was certainly challenging in the light of the Corona pandemic. But the drivetest and walktest teams managed to realize all planned measurements in November 2020, covering a total of 5,760 km and approx. 36.3 per cent of the Dutch popula­tion. In addition, the score includes the results of ­extensive crowdsourcing ­analyses considering 24 weeks from late May to early November, 2020.