Alexandra Borgeaud
Research expert covering cybersecurity and tech in Latin America
Telecoms in Belgium - statistics & facts
The telecommunications market is a constantly evolving industry, driven by a growing demand for next generation mobile and broadband technologies, and Belgium is no exception. From 64 percent in 2008, the share of Belgian households with internet connection grew to 95 percent in 2023, as connectivity became more equally distributed across the federal state’s regions over the years. The market is competitive, with Proximus, Telenet, and Orange Belgium as the main players.
The rise of mobile services
Long dominated by fixed revenue, the telecommunications industry in Belgium has skewed steadily towards the mobile segment. While the annual volume of domestic fixed-line to fixed-line calls in Belgium fell from almost 8.8 billion minutes in 2012 to roughly two billion minutes in 2023, the average usage of mobile data per active SIM card in Belgium grew exponentially from 130 megabytes per month in 2013 to 7.5 gigabytes in 2023. Some traits characterizing the mobile services market are the rise of postpaid SIM cards at the expense of prepaid ones, as well as the emergence and growth of 5G SIM cards over recent years. As the successor to 4G, 5G offers users lower latency, higher reliability, and better connection performance, and is expected to contribute greatly to digital transformation in Belgium.A trio at the top
Regarding telecommunications providers, Proximus had the largest penetration rate at country level, with approximately 43 percent, whereas Telenet and Orange Belgium had around 35 and 24 percent, respectively. However, Telenet reached around 58 percent in the Flanders region, while over 60 percent of the population in the Brussels-Capital region indicated using Proximus as their telecommunications operator. In addition, with the rise of mobile phones and wireless service provisions, quad play packages (also known as 'The Fantastic Four') became more popular year by year. Quad play packages combine triple play service of broadband internet access, television, and telephone with wireless service provisions. Between 2009 and 2023, the number of households with a quad play package went from 13,500 to over one million. Looking forward, the three telecoms giants will have to continue to harness technological developments and offer innovative services to maintain their leading spot on the Belgian market.
