KPN
Encyclopedia
KPN is a Dutch
landline and mobile telecommunications company, including both 2G
and 3G
mobile operations. The company is based in The Hague
.
of TPG
, the company also controlled the national Dutch postal services. The Dutch government progressively privatised KPN beginning in 1994, reducing its stake to 6.4% in 2005 and finally to zero in 2006. It has thus given up its golden share
veto rights.
In 2001 KPN tried to merge with the Belgian telco Belgacom. It did not succeed because of the unwillingness of the Belgian government. In 2001, Spanish Telefonica
expressed an interest in buying KPN.
The Japanese mobile telephone company NTT DoCoMo
holds a 2% stake in KPN Mobile NV. From 2002 until 2007 KPN Mobile provided i-mode
services on its mobile phone networks. i-mode as introduced by KPN's E-Plus in Germany in March 2002 and by KPN Mobile The Netherlands in April 2002 was the first mobile internet service in Europe (ahead of Vodafone's V-live).
KPN partly owned KPNQwest
, a telecommunications company equally owned by KPN and the American Qwest
Communications International. The company was set to bring together the state-of-the-art fibre-optic networks of the two partners and the Internet services expertise and customer base of EUnet
International. The company collapsed in a bankruptcy in 2002.
KPN also has operational synergies through joint ventures with TDC
and Swisscom
.
In 2007 KPN took over Getronics
N.V., a worldwide ICT services company with more than 22,000 employees, and became almost two times its former size. KPN is still selling parts of Getronics that were not of their interest. Recently they sold a Dutch department of Getronics named Business Application Services (BAS) to CapGemini
for about €250,000,000.
In the Netherlands, KPN has 6.3 million fixed-line phone customers. Its mobile division, KPN Mobile, has more than 33 million subscribers in the Netherlands, Germany, Belgium, France, and Spain under different brand names. Through its ownership of several European ISP's, KPN also provides Internet access to 2.1 million customers, and it offers business network services and data transport throughout Western Europe
.
, Belgian
, Spanish
and France telecommunication markets.
(FLO) network and is the market leader in mobile network operator
(MNO), with the brands KPN Mobile and Telfort
and as a mobile virtual network operator
(MVNO) under the brand names Simyo
, Ay Yildiz, Ortel Mobile and Hi.
In the Internet
market, KPN is owner of several internet service provider
s (ISP): KPN Internet, XS4ALL
, Planet Internet
, Het Net, Freeler, Speedlinq, Demon Netherlands
and HCCNet. They bought the Dutch subsidiary of Tiscali
in September 2006, which continues under the brand name Telfort. Currently, KPN's remaining internet service providers are XS4ALL, Telfort and KPN Internet.
In 2004, KPN also started offering digital terrestrial television in the Netherlands as part of its multi-play services via its subsidiary Digitenne. Since 1 May 2006, KPN offers Interactieve TV, an IPTV
service based on their DSL service, with the ability to receive Video on demand
and replay your missed TV episodes besides regular TV programming.
KPN Retail is a Dutch subsidiary that owns retail stores under the brands of kpn winkel, Hi Stores and Business Centre
.
is the third largest supplier of mobile telephony and is also active as a virtual mobile phone operator under the brand names Simyo
and Ortel Mobile.
In 2007 KPN purchased the Belgian fixed telephone and broadband operations of the Tele2-Versatel joint venture
. These were sold again in December 2009 to Mobistar
(Orange).
KPN has purchased the Belgian telecommunications retail store Allo Telecom.
, Simyo
, Vybemobile and Blau Mobilfunk.
KPN bought the telephone retailer SMS Michel Communication.
, KPN is active as two virtual mobile phone operator under the brands name Simyo
and Blau
via Orange España .
, KPN is active as virtual mobile phone operator under the brand name Simyo
which operates via Bouygues Télécom
.
, formerly a publicly traded company. iBasis
is a provider of wholesale international IP telephony services.
KPN also offers ICT
services in the Benelux
countries through its subsidiaries Newtel Essence (call center solutions and customer relations management), Getronics
(automation), Nozema and CSS Telecom.
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...
landline and mobile telecommunications company, including both 2G
2G
2G is short for second-generation wireless telephone technology. Second generation 2G cellular telecom networks were commercially launched on the GSM standard in Finland by Radiolinja in 1991...
and 3G
3G
3G or 3rd generation mobile telecommunications is a generation of standards for mobile phones and mobile telecommunication services fulfilling the International Mobile Telecommunications-2000 specifications by the International Telecommunication Union...
mobile operations. The company is based in The Hague
The Hague
The Hague is the capital city of the province of South Holland in the Netherlands. With a population of 500,000 inhabitants , it is the third largest city of the Netherlands, after Amsterdam and Rotterdam...
.
History
The company was formerly called Koninklijke PTT Nederland, and before that Staatsbedrijf der Posterijen, Telegrafie en Telefonie or PTT and was the publicly owned fixed line operator of the Netherlands. Before the spin-offSpin out
A spin-out, also known as a spin-off or a starburst, refers to a type of corporate action where a company "splits off" sections of itself as a separate business....
of TPG
TNT N.V.
TNT N.V., more commonly known as TNT, is an international express and mail delivery services company with headquarters in Hoofddorp, Netherlands. In the Netherlands, TNT operates the national postal service under the name TNT Post. The group also offers postal services in eight other European...
, the company also controlled the national Dutch postal services. The Dutch government progressively privatised KPN beginning in 1994, reducing its stake to 6.4% in 2005 and finally to zero in 2006. It has thus given up its golden share
Golden Share
A Golden Share is a nominal share which is able to outvote all other shares in certain specified circumstances, often held by a government organization, in a government company undergoing the process of privatization and transformation into a stock-company....
veto rights.
In 2001 KPN tried to merge with the Belgian telco Belgacom. It did not succeed because of the unwillingness of the Belgian government. In 2001, Spanish Telefonica
Telefónica
Telefónica, S.A. is a Spanish broadband and telecommunications provider in Europe and Latin America. Operating globally, it is the third largest provider in the world...
expressed an interest in buying KPN.
The Japanese mobile telephone company NTT DoCoMo
NTT DoCoMo
is the predominant mobile phone operator in Japan. The name is officially an abbreviation of the phrase, "do communications over the mobile network", and is also from a compound word dokomo, meaning "everywhere" in Japanese. Docomo provides phone, video phone , i-mode , and mail services...
holds a 2% stake in KPN Mobile NV. From 2002 until 2007 KPN Mobile provided i-mode
I-mode
NTT DoCoMo's i-mode is a mobile internet service popular in Japan. Unlike Wireless Application Protocol, i-mode encompasses a wider variety of internet standards, including web access, e-mail and the packet-switched network that delivers the data...
services on its mobile phone networks. i-mode as introduced by KPN's E-Plus in Germany in March 2002 and by KPN Mobile The Netherlands in April 2002 was the first mobile internet service in Europe (ahead of Vodafone's V-live).
KPN partly owned KPNQwest
KPNQwest
KPNQwest was a telecommunications company equally owned by the Dutch national telecom operator KPN and Qwest Communications International Inc., the Internet communications company, headquartered in Denver, Colorado....
, a telecommunications company equally owned by KPN and the American Qwest
Qwest
Qwest Communications International, Inc. was a large United States telecommunications carrier. Qwest provided local service in 14 western U.S. states: Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, Iowa, Minnesota, Montana, Nebraska, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oregon, South Dakota, Utah, Washington, and Wyoming.On April...
Communications International. The company was set to bring together the state-of-the-art fibre-optic networks of the two partners and the Internet services expertise and customer base of EUnet
EUnet
The roots of EUnet go back to 1982 and the first international UUCP connections. From a very loose collaboration of individual sites under the auspices of the EUUG , it evolved to the fully commercial entity EUnet International Ltd.In April 1998 the company was sold to Qwest Communications...
International. The company collapsed in a bankruptcy in 2002.
KPN also has operational synergies through joint ventures with TDC
TDC A/S
TDC A/S is the former telecom monopoly in Denmark. It is now privatized. Thus, it is the biggest company in all aspects of telecommunications in Denmark with landline, mobile, Internet, VHF maritime borderline-radio etc.By the end of 2004, the TDC Group had more than 13.4 mil. customers in Europe:...
and Swisscom
Swisscom
Swisscom AG is a major telecommunications provider in Switzerland. Along with Swiss Post, it is a successor company to the former state-owned PTT. Its headquarters are located at Worblaufen near Bern...
.
In 2007 KPN took over Getronics
Getronics
Getronics N.V. is a company, subsidiary of the Dutch IT & Telecommunications firm KPN since October 2007, focused on creating value for IT Workspace Management Services, Applications & Software Development Services...
N.V., a worldwide ICT services company with more than 22,000 employees, and became almost two times its former size. KPN is still selling parts of Getronics that were not of their interest. Recently they sold a Dutch department of Getronics named Business Application Services (BAS) to CapGemini
Capgemini
Capgemini is a French global IT services company, one of the world's largest management consulting, outsourcing and professional services companies with a staff of 114,274 operating in 40 countries. It is headquartered in Paris and was founded in 1967 by Serge Kampf, the current chairman, in...
for about €250,000,000.
Activity
Western Europe
Western Europe is a loose term for the collection of countries in the western most region of the European continents, though this definition is context-dependent and carries cultural and political connotations. One definition describes Western Europe as a geographic entity—the region lying in the...
.
Operations
As of 2004, KPN is active in the Dutch, GermanGermany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
, Belgian
Belgium
Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...
, Spanish
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
and France telecommunication markets.
Netherlands
In the Dutch telephone market, KPN is the owner of the fixed telephone operationsLandline
A landline was originally an overland telegraph wire, as opposed to an undersea cable. Currently, landline refers to a telephone line which travels through a solid medium, either metal wire or optical fibre, as distinguished from a mobile cellular line, where transmission is via radio waves...
(FLO) network and is the market leader in mobile network operator
Mobile network operator
A mobile network operator , also known as mobile phone operator , carrier service provider , wireless service provider, wireless carrier, or cellular company, or mobile network carrier is a telephone company that provides services for mobile phone subscribers.One essential...
(MNO), with the brands KPN Mobile and Telfort
Telfort
Telfort B.V. is a Dutch mobile telecommunication company, and a subsidiary of KPN.It operates GSM mobile telecommunications service in the Netherlands...
and as a mobile virtual network operator
Mobile virtual network operator
A mobile virtual network operator is a company that provides mobile phone services but does not have its own licensed frequency allocation of radio spectrum, nor does it necessarily have all of the infrastructure required to provide mobile telephone service...
(MVNO) under the brand names Simyo
Simyo
simyo is a no frills brand of a mobile virtual network operator operated by KPN in Belgium, Germany, France, the Netherlands and Spain.The company was founded in May 2005. Its headquarters are in Düsseldorf from a four-member team led by Rolf Hansen, the current CEO. Participation was initially...
, Ay Yildiz, Ortel Mobile and Hi.
In the Internet
Internet
The Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard Internet protocol suite to serve billions of users worldwide...
market, KPN is owner of several internet service provider
Internet service provider
An Internet service provider is a company that provides access to the Internet. Access ISPs directly connect customers to the Internet using copper wires, wireless or fiber-optic connections. Hosting ISPs lease server space for smaller businesses and host other people servers...
s (ISP): KPN Internet, XS4ALL
XS4ALL
XS4ALL is the third-oldest Internet service provider in the Netherlands, after NLnet and SURFnet. However, XS4ALL was the first company to offer Internet access to individuals, since 1993...
, Planet Internet
Planet Internet
Planet Internet is a defunct Internet service provider in the Netherlands, Germany and Belgium.-The Netherlands:Planet Internet Nederland was a brand of the Planet Media Group, a subsidiary of KPN and one of the biggest ISP of the Netherlands....
, Het Net, Freeler, Speedlinq, Demon Netherlands
Demon Internet
Demon Internet is a British Internet Service Provider. It was one of the UK's earliest ISPs, especially targeting the "dialup" audience. It started on 1 June 1992 from an idea posted on CIX by Cliff Stanford of Demon Systems Ltd. The branch in the Netherlands started in 1996, and was sold to KPN...
and HCCNet. They bought the Dutch subsidiary of Tiscali
Tiscali SpA
Tiscali s.p.a. is an Italian telecommunications company, based in Cagliari, Sardinia, that provides internet and telecommunications services to its domestic market...
in September 2006, which continues under the brand name Telfort. Currently, KPN's remaining internet service providers are XS4ALL, Telfort and KPN Internet.
In 2004, KPN also started offering digital terrestrial television in the Netherlands as part of its multi-play services via its subsidiary Digitenne. Since 1 May 2006, KPN offers Interactieve TV, an IPTV
IPTV
Internet Protocol television is a system through which television services are delivered using the Internet protocol suite over a packet-switched network such as the Internet, instead of being delivered through traditional terrestrial, satellite signal, and cable television formats.IPTV services...
service based on their DSL service, with the ability to receive Video on demand
Video on demand
Video on Demand or Audio and Video On Demand are systems which allow users to select and watch/listen to video or audio content on demand...
and replay your missed TV episodes besides regular TV programming.
KPN Retail is a Dutch subsidiary that owns retail stores under the brands of kpn winkel, Hi Stores and Business Centre
Business Center
Business Center is business network CNBC's flagship primetime show that aired in 5 to 7PM ET timeslot, hosted by Ron Insana and Sue Herera, and it was replaced by Bullseye on December 5, 2003.-History:...
.
Belgium
In Belgium, the KPN subsidiary BASEBASE (mobile)
BASE is a telephony services and broadband internet brand operated by KPN Group Belgium/KPN in Belgium and Germany.-Belgium:BASE is a brand of KPN Group Belgium....
is the third largest supplier of mobile telephony and is also active as a virtual mobile phone operator under the brand names Simyo
Simyo
simyo is a no frills brand of a mobile virtual network operator operated by KPN in Belgium, Germany, France, the Netherlands and Spain.The company was founded in May 2005. Its headquarters are in Düsseldorf from a four-member team led by Rolf Hansen, the current CEO. Participation was initially...
and Ortel Mobile.
In 2007 KPN purchased the Belgian fixed telephone and broadband operations of the Tele2-Versatel joint venture
Tele2
Tele2 AB is a major European telecommunications operator, with about 34 million customers in 11 countries. It serves as a fixed-line telephone operator, cable television provider, mobile phone operator and Internet service provider.- Overview :...
. These were sold again in December 2009 to Mobistar
Mobistar
Mobistar is the second largest of Belgium's three mobile telecommunications operators. It competes with Proximus, owned by Belgian state owned telco Belgacom, and Base, a subsidiary of Dutch KPN.-History:...
(Orange).
KPN has purchased the Belgian telecommunications retail store Allo Telecom.
Germany
In Germany, KPN is, with subsidiary company E-Plus, the third largest player on the mobile telephony market. It is also active as a virtual mobile phone operator under the brand names BASEBASE (mobile)
BASE is a telephony services and broadband internet brand operated by KPN Group Belgium/KPN in Belgium and Germany.-Belgium:BASE is a brand of KPN Group Belgium....
, Simyo
Simyo
simyo is a no frills brand of a mobile virtual network operator operated by KPN in Belgium, Germany, France, the Netherlands and Spain.The company was founded in May 2005. Its headquarters are in Düsseldorf from a four-member team led by Rolf Hansen, the current CEO. Participation was initially...
, Vybemobile and Blau Mobilfunk.
KPN bought the telephone retailer SMS Michel Communication.
Spain
In SpainSpain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
, KPN is active as two virtual mobile phone operator under the brands name Simyo
Simyo
simyo is a no frills brand of a mobile virtual network operator operated by KPN in Belgium, Germany, France, the Netherlands and Spain.The company was founded in May 2005. Its headquarters are in Düsseldorf from a four-member team led by Rolf Hansen, the current CEO. Participation was initially...
and Blau
Blau
Blau may refer to:* blue in German and Catalan * Blau , a tributary of the Danube in Germany* Prussian blue , a very dark blue pigment...
via Orange España .
France
In FranceFrance
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
, KPN is active as virtual mobile phone operator under the brand name Simyo
Simyo
simyo is a no frills brand of a mobile virtual network operator operated by KPN in Belgium, Germany, France, the Netherlands and Spain.The company was founded in May 2005. Its headquarters are in Düsseldorf from a four-member team led by Rolf Hansen, the current CEO. Participation was initially...
which operates via Bouygues Télécom
Bouygues Télécom
Team Europcar is a professional road bicycle racing team that competes as a UCI Professional Continental team on the UCI Europe Tour and, when selected as a wildcard, in UCI ProTour events. It was previously a member of the ProTour before being relegated after the 2009 season. Its title sponsor,...
.
International
On December 21, 2009 KPN became 100% owner of the US based iBasisIbasis
Based in Burlington, Massachusetts, iBasis is a wholly owned subsidiary of Royal KPN, N.V., the Dutch incumbent telecommunications carrier. iBasis is a wholesale carrier of international long distance telephone calls, with enhanced services for mobile operators, and a provider of retail prepaid...
, formerly a publicly traded company. iBasis
Ibasis
Based in Burlington, Massachusetts, iBasis is a wholly owned subsidiary of Royal KPN, N.V., the Dutch incumbent telecommunications carrier. iBasis is a wholesale carrier of international long distance telephone calls, with enhanced services for mobile operators, and a provider of retail prepaid...
is a provider of wholesale international IP telephony services.
KPN also offers ICT
Information and communication technologies
Information and communications technology or information and communication technology, usually abbreviated as ICT, is often used as an extended synonym for information technology , but is usually a more general term that stresses the role of unified communications and the integration of...
services in the Benelux
Benelux
The Benelux is an economic union in Western Europe comprising three neighbouring countries, Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg. These countries are located in northwestern Europe between France and Germany...
countries through its subsidiaries Newtel Essence (call center solutions and customer relations management), Getronics
Getronics
Getronics N.V. is a company, subsidiary of the Dutch IT & Telecommunications firm KPN since October 2007, focused on creating value for IT Workspace Management Services, Applications & Software Development Services...
(automation), Nozema and CSS Telecom.