Telecommunications in Belgium

Telecommunications in Belgium comprises fixed and mobile telephone services, fixed and mobile broadband, television distribution over electronic communications networks, radio spectrum management, and internet numbering and domain infrastructure. The sector is regulated by the Belgian Institute for Postal Services and Telecommunications (BIPT), the federal authority responsible for electronic communications, radio spectrum, numbering resources and postal services.

Fixed broadband is widely available through cable, DSL and fibre networks, while mobile services are provided by several mobile network operators and mobile virtual network operators. In 2024, Belgium had 5.19 million fixed broadband connections, 11.58 million active mobile data SIM cards and 12.71 million active mobile SIM cards excluding machine-to-machine cards.

The country calling code for Belgium is +32. Belgium's national telephone numbering plan is managed by BIPT, while the .be country-code top-level domain is operated by DNS Belgium.

Regulation

BIPT is the federal regulator for electronic communications and postal services. Its functions include market monitoring, management of numbering resources, radio spectrum licensing, enforcement against harmful interference, and supervision of radio equipment and telecommunications terminal equipment. It also manages Belgium's national numbering plan and reserves and allocates number blocks to operators.

Broadcasting and audiovisual media are regulated separately by Belgium's language communities rather than by the federal telecommunications regulator.

Fixed networks

Belgium's fixed broadband market is served principally through cable, DSL and fibre networks. Proximus, Wyre and Orange Belgium have the largest national fixed-network coverage. Wyre is used by Telenet and other operators, while Orange's fixed network includes assets taken over from VOO.

Fixed broadband connections increased by 1.4 percent in 2024, to 5.19 million lines. Fibre-to-the-home and fibre-to-the-building connections accounted for about 11 percent of fixed broadband lines at the end of the year, up from 1.6 percent in 2020. Cable remained the largest fixed broadband technology category, at about 52 percent of lines, while copper DSL declined to about 35 percent.

Fixed telephony use has continued to decline. In 2024, fixed-line voice connections fell to 1.85 million, and the share of households with a landline declined from 40 percent to 36 percent.

Mobile networks

Belgium's established mobile network operators are Proximus, Orange Belgium and Telenet Group. A fourth operator, Digi-Citymesh, acquired spectrum rights in 2022 and began building its radio access network while initially using Proximus's access network. Digi launched commercial service in December 2024; pending its own 5G build-out, it offers 4G via the Proximus network.

In 2024, Belgium had 11.58 million active mobile data SIM cards, equivalent to 97.9 active data SIM cards per 100 inhabitants. Mobile data traffic increased from 983 million GB in 2023 to 1,318 million GB in 2024, and average monthly data use per active data SIM increased from 7.6 GB to 9.5 GB.

5G

Belgian operators began activating 5G services in 2020 using provisional rights of use and existing 2100 MHz licences. The 700 MHz and 3600 MHz 5G pioneer bands were auctioned in 2022 for a 20-year period.

Proximus, Orange and Telenet offer 5G services on their own networks. Many Belgian 5G deployments remain based on non-standalone 5G, which limits the availability of some 5G capabilities. At the end of 2024, 40 percent of active mobile data SIM cards generated 5G traffic, up from 27.4 percent one year earlier.

Internet

Belgium's internet country-code top-level domain is .be. IANA lists DNS Belgium as the registry operator for .be, and DNS Belgium also operates the .brussels and .vlaanderen domain extensions.

Fixed broadband traffic reached 16.7 exabytes in 2024, an increase of 11 percent from 2023. Average monthly fixed broadband use was 278 GB per line.

References

External links

Belgian Institute for Postal Services and Telecommunications