Telenet brings GIGA-Internet to the whole of Flanders and Brussels

Mechelen, 26 September 2019 – A new milestone for the Internet: from today, Telenet customers can surf at speeds of up to 1 Gigabit per second (Gbps). That is more than twice as fast as before, and by far the fastest Internet available today. The higher speeds are the result of the large-scale investment project "The Big Net-works", which was launched five years ago. Telenet thereby prepared its network for the ever-increasing Internet traffic from customers and companies. Innovative applications such as virtual reality, connected and self-driving cars or remote surgery all require the speed, quality and responsiveness that only a high-performance network can deliver. Telenet absolutely intends to be the engine for innovations of this kind, and for the accompanying social and economic added-value for Belgium. By expanding the network to all the more than 3 million connectable houses and businesses in Flanders and Brussels, Telenet is creating the largest GIGA Internet region in Europe. ​
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​The Internet is the engine for digital innovation

Using the smart doorbell to watch the postman leaving a package. Children experiencing the ‘real life’ dangers of the blind spot at school via VR. Forwarding blood values from home to the hospital. Downloading the latest FIFA game. Both families and companies are sending more and more data over the Internet. Internet traffic increases by 60% every year. The images we send and view become heavier, and applications such as self-driving cars, VR or remote surgery expect responsiveness down to the millisecond. A quality network is an essential fertile ground for digital innovation.

Telenet anticipated this evolution five years ago, with its investment project "The Big Net-works". The company invested half a billion euro to make the Internet highway twice as wide. To do this, 10 teams of 30 people were on the road every day for five years to replace more than 2 million network components. They visited every street in Flanders and Brussels in which the cable network was located. It was the most radical adaptation of the network in the history of Telenet.

All of Flanders and Brussels: more than 3 million households and businesses
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Thanks to this large-scale operation, the network is ready for the data growth that is expected in the coming decades. Telenet can currently offer all its customers speeds of 1 Gigabit per second (Gbps). More than three million families, schools, companies, cities, shops, etc., can make use of this. Telenet has thereby placed Flanders and Brussels firmly at the top of the list of regions with the best digital infrastructure in Europe. Today, the region already meets the objectives of the "Digital Belgium" action plan, which states that "an Internet speed of up to 1 Gbps must be available for at least half of the connections in our country by 2020".

John Porter, CEO Telenet: “Giga-networks are a global trend. Where we definitely distinguish ourselves is the fact that we have not limited ourselves to a few specific major cities, but have adapted our entire cable network. From Middelkerke to Achel, from Etterbeek to Kalmthout: our Giga-network is available everywhere. It was a huge undertaking, but we have put ourselves on the map: this network is unique in Europe. We are more than five years ahead of the "Digital Agenda", and also amply meet the more ambitious plans that Belgium has put forward. We thereby want to make our contribution to the digital future of Flanders and Brussels. We believe that digitization is going to change fundamentally our way of working, of doing business and of living together. Everything is increasingly connected digitally: houses, companies, cities, cars etc. This requires the top speed, quality and responsiveness that only a high-performance network can deliver. We therefore see a dual role for us: as an engine for digital innovations and as the builder of the associated infrastructure.”

From 100 to 1,000 Megabit per second: faster Internet for the same price

By completing the investment project, Telenet is, on average, doubling the speed of all current Internet products. More than 1.2 million customers and companies will thereby receive a significantly faster Internet for the same price. The roll-out will happen between now and the end of October. The top speed of 1 Gigabit per second can be obtained via the Speedboost option. This will be at least two-and-a-half-times faster than before.
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John Porter, CEO Telenet: “At Telenet, we continue to guarantee the fastest Internet, and offer our customers a strong digital backbone that is indispensable for all the digital applications that they increasingly deploy. The additional speed that we give our customers ensures that everyone can continue to use more and more demanding applications at the same time, on an increasing number of different devices. Giga-speeds will be the norm in just a few years. Just look at how we launched Fibernet in 2010, with top speeds of 100 Megabits per second at the time. That’s the minimum speed that we offer in our cheapest product today. Our customers are already surfing the Internet of the future."

Appendix - overview of the new products and speeds:

For Telenet Business:
​In addition to the new speeds, the current FLUO and WIGO Business bundles are also being transformed into KLIK

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