Dutch ICT sector on the increase

The Dutch ITC sector is growing significantly, highlights a new guide produced by UK Trade & Investment.

According to the guide, 80% of homes in the Netherlands had the internet in 2006, with 66% having broadband – an increase from just 15% four years earlier.

Amongst businesses, ICT use has increased to 96%, with e-commerce accounting for 9.1% of sales in 2005.

The Netherlands, which has a population of 16.5 million, is the UK’s fourth largest export market. The value of ICT exports to the Netherlands in 2005 was £1.88bn. The UK is also the second largest investor in the Dutch economy.

The Netherlands is a highly competitive growing market with opportunities for trade in all sectors, especially for SMEs.

According to the guide – ICT and Telecommunications in the Netherlands 2007 – the Dutch government has announced plans to outsource management of its telephone exchange and data communication facilities. The European tender is expected to be worth several hundreds of millions of Euros over six years. Although the tender closed in April 2007, there are still expected to be sub contracts available.

Particular opportunities for UK companies lie in new and easy to install services and the following areas:

• Broadband Services – this area is still growing considerably in the Netherlands and is a current key driver of growth in the fixed telephony market
• Mobile Data Services – growth continues in this area but the majority of mobile data revenue in the Netherlands still lies in Short Message Services (SMS)
• MMS – this has been launched and is starting to grow
• Wi-Fi and WLANs – these are starting to experience broader deployment, however, security issues are hindering widespread adoption in the short term
• VoIP – this is continuing its strong growth, passing the 1.4 million mark at the end of 2006

The guide also highlights reasons for trading with the Netherlands, including:

• Dutch ICT spending was worth 7.6% of GDP in 2005
• There is a skills shortage of ICT professionals
• Business opportunities can be found in all ICT areas, particularly healthcare and education

More information about the current situation and opportunities in the ICT sector in the Netherlands is available in the guide, which can be downloaded below.

• ICT and Telecommunications in the Netherlands 2007 (PDF)