The rise of smart phones is continuing to have an impact on fixed-link telephony, with both the number of phoned minutes and connections declining further in the third quarter of last year.

The number of fixed-link phone minutes fell 7% to 4.7 billion, while the number of connections dropped 32,000 to 7.1 million, according to research by telecom watchdog Opta.

At the same time, the number of mobile phones and tablets in the Netherlands which are suitable for broadband internet rose by 400,000 to over 10 million in the third quarter of the year.

Data usage also rose 11%, due to the popularity of free internet services such as Whatsapp. The number of traditional text messages sent fell by 12% to 1.8 billion.