Internet in the Netherlands
Encyclopedia
According to research done by the OECD the Netherlands
is ranked with Switzerland
in having the most broadband subscriptions per 100 inhabitants, has no bandwidth caps
and has the most homes passed in Europe in terms of connection speeds of 50 Mbps and higher.
Fiber-optic Internet access is rolled out on regional scale, encompassing part of a province or a municipality.
Deployment is comparable to local-loop unbundling: one party invests in the physical network on which other parties can provide their services. At the end of 2010, fiber optic Internet was available in 205 out of 408 municipalities. The amount of homes passed was 714,600 on a total of 7.386 million.
providers have to store information about internet traffic. While in the original implementation the duration was set to twelve months this has been changed to six months due to questionable usefulness and necessity.
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
is ranked with Switzerland
Switzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....
in having the most broadband subscriptions per 100 inhabitants, has no bandwidth caps
Bandwidth cap
A bandwidth cap, also known as a bit cap, limits the transfer of a specified amount of data over a period of time. Internet service providers commonly apply a cap when a channel intended to be shared by many users becomes overloaded, or may be overloaded, by a few users...
and has the most homes passed in Europe in terms of connection speeds of 50 Mbps and higher.
Broadband Internet access
Cable is the most popular form of Internet access with 41% of total subscriptions, followed by various forms of DSL and Fiber to the Home according to statistics from the end of 2010 gathered by the association of Dutch cable providers.Fiber-optic Internet access is rolled out on regional scale, encompassing part of a province or a municipality.
Deployment is comparable to local-loop unbundling: one party invests in the physical network on which other parties can provide their services. At the end of 2010, fiber optic Internet was available in 205 out of 408 municipalities. The amount of homes passed was 714,600 on a total of 7.386 million.
Internet censorship
Government-mandated Internet censorship is nonexistent due to the house of representatives speaking out against filtering on multiple occasions.Network neutrality
In June 2011 the lower house voted for network neutrality enforced by law. The revised Telecommunicatiewet is expected to pass the senate later that year, after summer recess.Data Retention
In accordance with European Union directive 2006/24/ECData Retention Directive
The Data Retention Directive, more formally "Directive 2006/24/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 15 March 2006 on the retention of data generated or processed in connection with the provision of publicly available electronic communications services or of public communications...
providers have to store information about internet traffic. While in the original implementation the duration was set to twelve months this has been changed to six months due to questionable usefulness and necessity.