Now that the corona situation is set to last longer, VodafoneZiggo feels it has an urgent responsibility: to keep the Netherlands connected through a secure and stable network.
- Significant investments in the GigaNet, Vodafone and Ziggo’s powerful network, as well as in customers, are essential to meeting this responsibility. This quarter, we again reinvested approx. 20% in the vital network infrastructure.
- This is the case for both our mobile and fixed networks. During the multiband auctions, Vodafone acquired new spectrum with which it can further extend 5G on all its frequencies. This makes Vodafone the first provider with nationwide 5G coverage.
- Since this quarter, Ziggo has been offering 1 Gbps speeds in Amsterdam and Rotterdam, and the nationwide rollout of gigabit internet has continued, with 2 million households now connected and 3 million expected to be connected by the end of the year. Without having to dig up roads and pavements, customers can now take advantage of speeds that enable whole households to meet, do exams, play games and watch series online all at once. Smart WiFi was introduced, too, to further improve connections in homes.
- This third quarter, the total turnover (2%), the operational profit (6%) and the number of mobile customers (76,000) have increased. This growth is in line with the previous quarters and is the result of increased turnover in combination with a continued cost focus.
- Customers are also increasingly experiencing the benefits of combining our fixed and mobile services. In the third quarter, 20,000 new ‘converged’ households have been added. These are customers who subscribe to a Vodafone product in addition to a Ziggo product.
- The economic outlook has consequences for VodafoneZiggo over the whole year 2020, too. Nevertheless, we expect to show growth of between 4% and 5% in our EBITDA.
- VodafoneZiggo is the first organisation in the Netherlands to develop a hybrid policy for the long term, whereby working from home is on a par with working at the office. Everyone who wants to may work from home half-time, and this policy will remain in place when everything returns to normal.
