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July 20, 2011

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Biggest Dutch telco raises prices

THE Netherlands' largest telecommunications company announced big price hikes for mobile Internet customers yesterday, less than a month after Parliament approved one of the world's strongest "net neutrality" laws.

KPN had posted weak first quarter earnings as its customers with mobile Internet subscriptions flocked to Skype and other Internet-based messaging services.

When the company tried to add a surcharge on competing services, the move backfired. Customers protested loudly and Parliament passed a bill barring companies from hindering competitors or giving preference to their own traffic on mobile networks.

"KPN has decided not to block any services or to set separate rates for different services," the company said yesterday. Its new charges "comply with the forthcoming Dutch legislation and are net neutral," it said.

KPN's new deals bundle voice, data and SMS messaging together in packages that it says increase the cost of data.

As of September, KPN's cheapest advertised price for one gigabyte of mobile data will be as part of a 50 euro (US$70) monthly package, versus some packages that are under 20 euros per month that include unlimited data.


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