Erik Hoving, chief strategy, innovation & technology officer for KPN Group in The Netherlands, is opening the conference on Day One of the LTE World Summit, the premier 4G event for the telecoms industry, taking place on the 24th-26th June 2013, at the Amsterdam RAI, The Netherlands. In an interview ahead of the show we spoke to him about KPN’s LTE launch and the effect that 4G services will have on consumers and the internet in general.

Dutch operator group KPN has seen its quarterly net profit fall by 32 per cent year on year, and has blamed increased competition in the German market as a key factor for its poor performance. The operator recorded net profit of €250m for 3Q12, compared with the €368m it made in 3Q11. This was despite revenue falling by a comparatively modest 6.5 per cent year on year, from €3,256m to €3,044m.

The month of May has brought a spate of LTE launches in the Netherlands, as telecoms operators scrambled to meet the coverage obligation deadline for the 2.6GHz spectrum they all bought two years ago. Cable operator Ziggo was the first, followed by the incumbent, KPN, and the rest have now followed suit, with T-Mobile the latest to announce its launch.

Telenor Connexion’s technology will be used to provide wireless connectivity for home alarms and security systems in the Netherlands, after residential security firm Sector Alarm, selected the firm as its M2M connectivity provider.

Here we talk to Kim Kyllesbech Larsen, director of technology services and international network economics at T-Mobile and get his thoughts on sweating existing operator assets and for how long that can be done.

Blyk has finally pulled the plug on its mobile virtual network operation, a move that will be seen as an admission of failure of its ad-funded MVNO model.

It’s been a week of pecuniary punishments in the Low Countries, with carriers in both Belgium and the Netherlands on the receiving end of regulatory remonstrations. First up was Proximus, a carrier with a name that makes it sound like a character from the film Gladiator. It’s appropriate, really, as the firm – which is the mobile arm of incumbent telco Belgacom and the market leader – seems to feel as if it’s been stabbed in the back by a petty, power-crazed ruler.