KPN

Last updated

Koninklijke KPN N.V.
Company type Public
Euronext Amsterdam:  KPN
AEX component
Industry Telecommunications
Founded1752;272 years ago (1752) (as Statenpost)
1893;131 years ago (1893) (as PTT-NL)
1 January 1989;35 years ago (1989-01-01) (corporatised)
Headquarters Rotterdam, Netherlands
Key people
Joost Farwerck (CEO)
Duco Sickinghe (chairman of the supervisory board)
Products Landline
Mobile Telephony
Internet
Digital Terrestrial Television
IT services
IPTV
Brands
Revenue €5.283 billion (2020) [1]
€912 million (2020) [1]
€561 million (2020) [1]
Total assets €12.080 billion (2020) [1]
Total equity €2.622 billion (2020) [1]
Owner
Number of employees
10,102 (FTE, 2020) [1]
Subsidiaries
  • Cam IT Solutions
  • Solcon
  • RoutIT
Website kpn.com

Koninklijke KPN N.V. (Royal KPN N.V. in English), trading as KPN is a Dutch telecommunications company. KPN originated from a government-run postal, telegraph and telephone service and is based in Rotterdam, Netherlands.

Contents

History

Until 1998

What is now KPN was first officially established as a postal service called the Statenpost in 1752. In 1799, Dutch postal services were reformed into a single, national system, and in 1807, was placed under the administration of the Ministry of Finance. In 1893, postal system and telegraph and telephone services were brought together to form the Staatsbedrijf der Posterijen, Telegrafie en Telefonie (approximately, “National corporation for Postage, Telegraphy and Telephony”), shortened to PTT or internationally as PTT-NL, under the Ministry of Agriculture, Industry and Commerce. [2] [3]

Around a hundred years later, post codes were introduced in the Netherlands in 1977, which allowed full automation of the postal system. On 1 January 1989, the PTT was corporatised and reorganised as a private business known as Koninklijke PTT Nederland (“Royal PTT Netherlands”), shortened to KPN or PTT Nederland. [3] KPN remained wholly owned but no longer managed by the Dutch government. Its postal service was called PTT Post while its telecom service was called PTT Telecom, both independent from each other. [2]

In 1992, KPN cofounded GD Express Worldwide (GDEW) with TNT and the state owned postal companies of Canada, France, West Germany and Sweden. [2] KPN later bought out the shares held by the state owned postal companies, owning a total of 50% shareholding of GDEW.

KPN took over its GDEW partner TNT between October 1996 and January 1997. [4] KPN also controlled the national Dutch postal services until its postal division was spun-off and merged with TNT to form TNT Post Group (TPG) in 1998.

The Dutch government progressively privatised KPN beginning in 1994, with KPN listed on the Amsterdam Stock Exchange, then reduced its stake to 6.4% in 2005, and finally completed the process in 2006, giving up its golden share veto rights.

Since 1998

In 2001 KPN tried to merge with the Belgian telco Belgacom. [5] It did not succeed because of the objections of the Belgian government.[ citation needed ] [6] In 2001, Spanish Telefonica expressed an interest in buying KPN.[ citation needed ] [7]

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. [8]

In 2007 KPN acquired Getronics N.V., a worldwide ICT services company with more than 22,000 employees, and almost doubled its former size. KPN is still divesting parts of Getronics that didn't meet their core interests. Recently they sold a Dutch department of Getronics named Business Application Services (BAS) to CapGemini for about €250,000,000.[ citation needed ]

In August 2013, América Móvil offered to take over the remaining 70% stake of the Dutch telecommunications company for 7.2 billion Euros ($9.49 billion). América Móvil currently owns close to 30% of KPN. The Dutch Government has issued a warning on this proposed takeover of KPN by Mexican Billionaire Carlos Slim, as part of his ambition to expand his telecom empire. [9] The plans eventually ended when the "Stichting Preferente Aandelen B KPN" exercised a call option to gain ~50% of the total shares, in order to put up a temporary protection wall against the hostile takeover.

In November 2020, EQT AB offered to take over KPN for 11 billion Euros. Further in April 2021 EQT AB and Stonepeak Infrastructure Partners jointly started work on a KPN takeover bid for 12.5 billion Euros. [10]

On 10 June 2021, a fiber-optic joint venture called Glaspoort and based in Amsterdam was established, a partnership between KPN and pension fund APG to expand the supply of fiber. Glaspoort plans to connect some 750,000 households and about 225,000 businesses to fiber which will require an investment of over €1 billion over the next five years. [11]

Shareholders

As of 2021, main share holders are: [12]

Stichting Preferente Aandelen B KPN is a foundation which "was established to promote the interests of KPN, KPN its related companies and all stakeholders, including influences the continuity, independence or identity of KPN in conflict with the interests and threaten to keep much as possible." The foundation exercised a call option to gain roughly 50% of the KPN shares in order to protect KPN against a hostile takeover. This stock was withdrawn on a special shareholder meeting held on 10 January 2014, as per the request of the foundation in November 2013. [13]

Activity

KPN's current head office in Rotterdam Geenmon rotterdam kpn gebouw.jpg
KPN's current head office in Rotterdam
Former KPN head office in The Hague Hoofdkantoor KPN Den Haag.JPG
Former KPN head office in The Hague

In the Netherlands, KPN has 6.3 million fixed-line telephone customers. Its mobile division, KPN Mobile, had more than 33 million subscribers in the Netherlands, Germany, Belgium, France, and Spain under different brand names. Through its ownership of several European Internet service providers, KPN also provides Internet access to 2.1 million customers, and it offers business network services and data transport throughout Western Europe.

KPN operates a mobile services network for 2G GSM, 4G LTE, and 5G NR technologies. It uses the 700 MHz, 800 MHz, 900 MHz, 1400 MHz, 1800 MHz, 2100 MHz and 2600 MHz bands. [14] KPN previously offered 1G (NMT) services until 1999 [15] and 3G UMTS services until 31 March 2022. [16]

In September 2019, KPN announced that Dominique Leroy will succeed Maximo Ibarra as CEO and Chairman of the Board of Management, with effect from 1 December 2019. [17] Several weeks later, KPN withdrew her appointment. [18] On 1 October 2019, Joost Farwerck was appointed as CEO and Chairman of the Board of Management. [19]

Operations

Most of KPN's operations are in the Dutch telecommunication market.

In the 2000s and early 2010s, KPN had multiple subsidiaries in European countries such as Belgium, Germany and France. Most of these international operations were sold off in the 2010s.

Netherlands

In the Dutch telephone market, KPN is the owner of the fixed telephone operations network (though its sales monopoly on the fixed network ended in 2007) and is the market leader in mobile network operator (MNO) under its own brand name and as a mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) under the brand name Simyo. Defunct mobile subsidiaries include Hi, Telfort and Ortel Mobile. [20]

In the Internet market, KPN provides Internet service under the KPN brand name. Defunct subsidiary providers include XS4ALL, Telfort, Planet Internet, Het Net, Freeler, Speedlinq, HCCNet, Demon Netherlands.

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 Interactive Television, 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 branded KPN Winkel.

From 1990 until 2002, KPN was the title sponsor of the Dutch Eredivisie, and since the season 2017/18 the main sponsor.

Belgium

In Belgium, KPN formerly owned mobile provider Base. In 2015, it was sold to Telenet, a Belgian cable broadband service provider.

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 (now Orange Belgium).

In 2009, KPN bought a 33.3% share in MVNO Mobile Vikings, [21] which was sold to Medialaan in 2015.

Germany

In Germany, KPN formerly owned mobile provider E-Plus, which was Germany's third largest mobile phone network. E-Plus was sold to Telefónica Germany in 2014.

France

In France, KPN was active as a mobile virtual network operator under the brand name Simyo, which was sold to Bouygues Télécom in 2011.

International

From 1996 until 2001, KPN owned 17.28% stake in the Indonesian-based Telkomsel. It was sold to Singtel in 2001.

From 2009 until 2019, KPN owned the US-based iBasis. The company was sold to Tofane Global in 2019. [22]

In 2006, KPN acquired Belgian ICT services company Newtel Essence (call center solutions and customer relations management). [23]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Telecommunications in Belgium</span>

Communications in Belgium are extensive and advanced. Belgium possesses the infrastructure for both mobile and land-based telecom, as well as having significant television, radio and internet infrastructure. The country code for Belgium is BE.

This article is intended to give an overview of telecommunications in the Netherlands.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Telecommunications company</span> Organization that provides telephone and/or other telecommunications service

A telecommunications company is a kind of electronic communications service provider, more precisely a telecommunications service provider (TSP), that provides telecommunications services such as telephony and data communications access. Many traditional solely telephone companies now function as internet service providers (ISPs), and the distinction between a telephone company and ISP has tended to disappear completely over time, as the current trend for supplier convergence in the industry develops. Additionally, with advances in technology development, other traditional separate industries such as cable television, Voice-over IP (VoIP), and satellite providers offer similar competing features as the telephone companies to both residential and businesses leading to further evolution of corporate identity have taken shape.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Proximus Group</span> Belgian telecommunication company

The Proximus Group is a provider of digital services and communication solutions operating in Belgium and international markets. In Belgium, the company offers its main products and services under the brands Proximus, Scarlet, and Mobile Vikings. The Group also operates in Luxembourg as Proximus Luxembourg SA, with the brandsTango and Telindus Luxembourg, and in the Netherlands as Telindus Netherlands. Internationally, activities are carried out by BICS and Telesign. Proximus Accelerators is the ecosystem of IT partners Be-Mobile, ClearMedia, Codit, Davinsi Labs, Proximus Spearit and Telindus.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Telecom Éireann</span> Irish telecommunications company active from 1983 to 1999

Telecom Éireann was an Irish state-owned telecommunications company that operated from 1983 to 1999. Prior to then a telephone and postal service was provided by the Department of Posts and Telegraphs, as part of the civil service. Telecom Éireann was established by the Postal and Telecommunications Services Act, 1983; its full formal title was "Bord Telecom Éireann or, in the English language, The Irish Telecommunications Board". "Telecom Éireann" may be translated as "Telecom of Ireland". In 1999, the company was privatised and renamed as eircom.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Swisscom</span> Swiss telecommunication company

Swisscom AG is a major telecommunications provider in Switzerland. Its headquarters are located in Worblaufen near Bern. The Swiss government owns 51% of Swisscom. According to its own published data, Swisscom holds a market share of 56% for mobile, 50% for broadband and 37% for TV telecommunication in Switzerland. Its Italian subsidiary, FASTWEB, is attributed 16% of private clients and 29% of the corporate clients share of Italian broadband and is also active in the mobile market.

Vodafone Libertel B.V. is the second largest mobile phone company in the Netherlands, and was previously called Libertel. It is part of VodafoneZiggo, a joint venture between Ziggo and Vodafone Group.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tessellis</span> Italian telecommunications company

Tessellis S.p.A. is an Italian telecommunications company founded in 1998 and based in Cagliari, Sardinia, that provides Internet and telecommunications services in Italy, and, previously had operations in other European nations through its acquisition of many smaller European Internet Service Providers (ISPs) in the late 1990s.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tele2</span> Multinational telecommunications company

Tele2 AB is a provider of mobile and fixed connectivity, telephony, data network services, TV, streaming and global Internet of things services, amongst others, to consumers and enterprises. It is headquartered in Kista Science City, Stockholm, Sweden. It is a major mobile network operator in Sweden, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. The company initially founded Tele2 Russia, but later sold all its operations, later rebranding and changing the name to "t2".

Proximus is the largest of Belgium's three mobile telecommunications companies and is a part of Proximus Group. It competes with Orange Belgium and Base.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Orange Polska</span> Polish telecommunications provider

Orange Polska is a Polish telecommunications provider established in December 1991. It is a public company traded on the Warsaw Stock Exchange, with a controlling stake owned by Orange S.A., the latter controlling over 50% of this stake by 2002. It operates the following services: PSTN, ISDN, GSM 900/1800 network, ADSL, IDSL, FTTH fibre Internet, Frame Relay, ATM and Inmarsat.

A postal, telegraph, and telephone service is a government agency responsible for postal mail, telegraph, and telephone services. Such monopolies existed in many countries, though not in North America, Japan or Spain. Many PTTs have been partially or completely privatised in recent years, though a few, such as Posta ve Telgraf Teşkilatı of Turkey, Myanma Posts and Telecommunications of Myanmar and Tusass of Greenland, continue to remain wholly government-owned. In many of said privatisations, the privatised corporation was completely renamed, such as KPN in the Netherlands, Orange S.A. in France, BT Group in the United Kingdom, Eir in the Republic of Ireland, Swisscom in Switzerland, Telstra in Australia, Spark in New Zealand, Proximus Group in Belgium, A1 Telekom Austria Group in Austria, TDC Group in Denmark, Telia Company in Sweden and Finland, Telenor in Norway, Chunghwa Telecom in Taiwan and Singtel in Singapore; whereas in others, the name of the privatised corporation has been only slightly modified, such as Telkom Indonesia in Indonesia, Telekom Malaysia in Malaysia, Deutsche Telekom in Germany, Kosovo Telecom in Kosovo, KT in South Korea, Post Luxembourg in Luxembourg and Síminn in Iceland.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Claro Company</span> Mexican wireless operator

The Claro Company, or simply Claro, is a Latin American telecommunications company, part of América Móvil, a Mexican telecom group. Claro serves customers in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Puerto Rico and Uruguay. Its Mexican operations are branded as Claro Mexico. The company's name means "bright," "clear," and also "of course," in both Portuguese and Spanish.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Síminn</span> Icelandic telecommunications company

Síminn hf., previously named Landssíminn and Póstur og Sími, is an Icelandic telecommunications company. It offers communication services for both private and corporate clients, including mobile (2G/3G/4G/5G), landline (VoIP/POTS), Internet (ADSL/VDSL/FTTH) and IPTV services. Síminn also operates multiple TV channels and streaming services. Síminn is listed on the Icelandic stock exchange.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Thomas Nationwide Transport</span> Australian logistics company (1946–1998)

Thomas Nationwide Transport, commonly known by its TNT acronym, and in its later years as TNT Limited, was an Australian logistics and transport company. Founded in 1946, it was taken over by KPN in 1996 and in 1998 became part of the TNT Post Group.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Simyo</span> Mobile virtual network operators

Simyo is a brand for various mobile virtual network operators (MVNOs) in Europe. In the Netherlands, it is owned by KPN. In Spain, it is owned by Orange España. In Germany, it was relaunched in August 2024 by mobilezone GmbH and Telefonica Germany.

Koninklijke TNT Post BV was the national postal company in the Netherlands, owned by TNT N.V. Until May 2011, it operated under the brand TNT Post and employed 75,000 people.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Scarlet (company)</span> Belgian telecommunications company

Scarlet offers fixed telephony, digital television, fixed Internet connections and mobile subscriptions for private consumers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">PostNL</span> Mail, parcel and e-commerce corporation with operations in the Netherlands

PostNL N.V., commonly known as PostNL is a Dutch mail, parcel and e-commerce company with operations in the Netherlands, Germany, Italy, Belgium, and the United Kingdom. It provides universal delivery in the Netherlands, and is publicly listed at Euronext Amsterdam. The company was known as TNT NV until TNT Express was separated from it in May 2011, and the remainder of the company was renamed PostNL.

Bas Burger is a Dutch business executive known for his work in the international telecom industry. Currently CEO, Business, BT, he is a contributor to the World Economic Forum and is on the Committee for Economic Development.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Integrated Annual Report 2020" (PDF). KPN. Retrieved 21 December 2021.
  2. 1 2 3 "TPG N.V. History". Funding Universe. Archived from the original on 23 February 2017. Retrieved 27 September 2019.
  3. 1 2 "Onze Geschiedenis". KPN (in Dutch). Archived from the original on 31 May 2019. Retrieved 27 September 2019.
  4. ↑ "KPN's Takeover Offer For TNT Is Welcomed". www.wsj.com. 3 October 1996. Archived from the original on 14 June 2018. Retrieved 14 June 2018.
  5. ↑ Jeroen Wester; Michiel van Nieuwstadt (1 September 2001). "KPN na Belgacom in dode steeg". NRC (in Dutch). NRC Handelsblad.
  6. ↑ Dan Bilefsky, and Almar Latour (29 August 2001). "KPN, Belgacom Merger Talks Stall As Belgacom Looks to Sweeten Deal". The Wall Street Journal . Retrieved 22 April 2021.
  7. ↑ Green, Jennifer (2 May 2000). "Telefonica reportedly in merger talks with KPN". Screen Daily . Retrieved 22 April 2021.
  8. ↑ "KPN Ventures to acquire stake in Internet of Things platform provider Actility". www.overons.kpn. 16 June 2015. Retrieved 22 April 2021.
  9. ↑ Dolia Estevez (13 September 2013). "Dutch Government Issues Warning On Takeover Of Telecom Firm KPN By Mexican Billionaire Carlos Slim". Forbes.
  10. ↑ "Private equity firms are preparing to bid for telecoms giant KPN: WSJ". dutchnews.nl. 9 April 2021. Retrieved 22 April 2021.
  11. ↑ "KPN en APG kondigen start glasvezelbedrijf "Glaspoort" aan". KPN en APG kondigen start glasvezelbedrijf "Glaspoort" aan (in Dutch). Retrieved 18 May 2023.
  12. ↑ "KPN KON Company Profile". Euronext . Retrieved 21 December 2021.
  13. ↑ "Stichting Preferente Aandelen B KPN". prefs-kpn.nl.
  14. ↑ "Frequentieoverzicht". Antennekaart.nl. Retrieved 22 December 2021.
  15. ↑ "Opta verbiedt KPN doorsluizen NMT-klanten" [Opta forbids KPN to migrate NMT customers]. AG Connect (in Dutch). 1 January 1998.
  16. ↑ "Van 3G naar 4G: sneller, veiliger en stabieler" [From 3G to 4G: faster, more secure and more stable] (in Dutch). KPN. 4 March 2021.
  17. ↑ "KPN to appoint Dominique Leroy as Chief Executive Officer". KPN Corporate EN. Retrieved 14 September 2019.
  18. ↑ "KPN to withdraw the intended appointment of Mrs. Dominique Leroy as CEO of KPN" . Retrieved 30 September 2019.
  19. ↑ "KPN announces new CEO, CFO transition and expands Board of Management" . Retrieved 1 October 2019.
  20. ↑ Daan van Monsjou (26 March 2024). "KPN stopt per 1 juli 2024 met telecomprovider Ortel Mobile" (in Dutch).
  21. ↑ "KPN and Concentra invest in Mobile Vikings". MobileWeb Blog - Mobile Internet & Apps - Business SMS. Archived from the original on 1 July 2012.
  22. ↑ "KPN to sell iBasis to Tofane Global". KPN. 7 March 2018.
  23. ↑ "KPN neemt NewTel Essence over" [KPN acquires NewTel Essence] (in Dutch). Het Nieuwsblad. 4 July 2006.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.