July 2024

This report, commissioned by KPN, compares the level of spectrum costs faced by mobile network operators (MNOs) in the Netherlands to those across Europe using the ‘spectrum cost to revenue ratio’. This ratio takes the annualised cost of all spectrum licenses held by MNOs in a country, including both upfront and annual fees, and divides this by the total annual mobile service revenues for MNOs in that country.

The findings of this report update a benchmark originally prepared in 2021, and show that:

• At 14.8% of mobile service revenues, the Netherlands has the second highest spectrum cost to revenue ratio of the 22 major European countries studied (increasing from 14.2% in 2021)
• The European average spectrum cost to revenue ratio has increased from 7.0% in 2021 to 7.9% in 2024, showing that the average spectrum cost burden is increasing across Europe.