KPN is pushing all the right buttons

KPN and Reggefiber are teaming to build FTTH in Almere, we learned last week. The importance of this deal is in its size (we are talking the #5 town in the Netherlands, 180k inhabitants), but let me summarize why this is so much up my alley.

FTTH
No need to step on the soapbox over this shiny new fiber stuff.

Sharing
All we need is a single strand of fiber. Nobody would like to get into a land grab for access to ducts, buildings, homes, etc. (as we are seeing in France).

Open access
Wholesale as a sound business model. I defended it recently.

Service provider v. network operator
Sharing implies open access, separation and wholesale. KPN is stepping away from full network control and focuses on services. The network is relegated to Reggefiber, which feels at home in the infrastructure business (Dick Wessels roots are in the building and roads industry).

KPN is beating the cableco (UPC) to the punch, but Liberty Global sees no need to move to fiber anyway. The other large cableco in the Netherlands, Zesko (the merger product of Casema, Multikabel and @Home), just last week refused KPN access to its network.

KPN, not the cable companies, is pushing all the right buttons.