Netherlands coverage

What the Netherlands numbers mean

Two numbers matter and only one of them is the one every seller quotes. The typical speed, 94 Mbps, tells you what a good moment looks like.

The tenth percentile, 28 Mbps, is the one that matters. It is the speed in the worst tenth of the day, when the cell above the station is full and everybody around you is on it too. A country with a high median and a low floor is a country that works beautifully right up until the moment you actually need it.

If the trip depends on video calls or tethering, plan around the busy figure rather than the typical one.

What happens in Netherlands when the network is busy

Congestion is not a fault, it is a Tuesday evening. The question is what your eSIM can do about it, and for most travel eSIMs the answer is nothing: one wholesale agreement per country, one network, and no way out except buying a second eSIM from somebody else while standing in the street.

Here, Orbislo traffic runs over KPN and Vodafone. When the network you are on degrades we move you to another one, mid trip, without you asking, and tell you afterwards rather than interrupting you at the time.

Mobile operators in Netherlands

• KPN: KPN holds 3650 to 3750 MHz, the top 100 MHz of the 3.5 GHz band, won in the 2024 auction as one 60 MHz licence for 39,220,000 euros plus four 10 MHz licences at 4,806,900 euros each.
• Odido: Odido holds 3550 to 3650 MHz of the 3.5 GHz band from the 2024 auction, on the same terms as KPN: one 60 MHz licence for 39,220,000 euros and four 10 MHz licences at 4,806,900 euros each.
• VodafoneZiggo: VodafoneZiggo, bidding as Vodafone Libertel, holds 3450 to 3550 MHz from the 2024 auction, one 60 MHz licence for 39,220,000 euros and four 10 MHz licences at 4,578,001 euros each, slightly cheaper than its two rivals.
• KPN: In the 2020 multiband auction KPN won two 700 MHz licences, three 1400 MHz licences and four 2100 MHz licences, the same 700 MHz holding as T-Mobile and VodafoneZiggo.
• Odido: Odido first promised 3G until at least 1 August 2026 and now keeps it running a little longer while it settles the exact switch-off plan. It has committed to give customers at least six months' notice before 3G connectivity starts going off.

Older networks in Netherlands

• VodafoneZiggo and KPN have already ended 3G in the Netherlands. KPN switches 2G off in December 2027, VodafoneZiggo has said it will not end 2G before the end of 2026, and Odido has already stopped 2G.
• Once no Dutch network supports 2G or 3G, visitors roaming in the Netherlands with 2G-only phones will lose mobile service, and the eCall crash alarm fitted to new cars since 2018 may stop working in some models.
• KPN ends 2G for good on 1 December 2027. From then a phone that cannot make calls over 4G will not get onto KPN's network at all, so it cannot call, text or use data there.

5G in Netherlands

• KPN switched on 5G on 28 July 2020 across most of the Randstad and Eindhoven, reaching about half the Dutch population on day one, with nationwide 5G promised for 2021.
• The 2020 multiband auction handed out 26 licences in the 700, 1400 and 2100 MHz bands for 1,231,717,947 euros. The 700 MHz and 1400 MHz licences took effect on 28 July 2020, and the 2100 MHz ones in early 2021.
• The Netherlands auctioned 300 MHz of the 3.5 GHz band, 3450 to 3750 MHz, in an auction that closed on 1 July 2024, raising 174,427,204 euros. The licences run to 31 December 2040 and oblige each operator to reach set geographic coverage within two to five years.
• No bidder could win more than 40 percent of the frequencies in the 2024 auction, as in 2020, which left room for at least three mobile networks in the Netherlands.

Network notes for Netherlands

• A coverage and speed obligation in force since July 2022 requires KPN, Odido and VodafoneZiggo each to cover at least 98 percent of the land area of every Dutch municipality, now at a minimum of 10 Mbit/s. Natura 2000 areas and outer waters are exempt, and the duty applies outdoors only.
• The digital infrastructure inspectorate checks that coverage duty by driving random routes through selected municipalities each year, with a phone for each network in a roof box running downloads the whole way.