Netherlands will enter into distribution agreements with CasTel and Palet to deliver the Dutch service to their subscribers. Under the agreement, which is pending Board of Director approvals, Palet and CasTel have agreed to make the service available to their 1.4 million households, representing more than 20 percent of Dutch households. We believe the delivery of high-speed Internet services is one of the most exciting opportunities for cable operators. Netherlands will provide a turnkey service to cable operators, enabling them to exploit this opportunity quickly and profitably.
Network is much more than a fast connection to the already overloaded Internet.
An estimated 10 percent of Dutch households have an Internet connection, one of the highest penetration rates of any country outside the United States. CasTel CasTel is a cable television and telecommunications company serving the North and East of the Netherlands. It serves both the consumer market and the business market. In December 1997 CasTel started FreeAccess, a PSTN based Internet-access service that gives customers access to the Internet without the obligation for them to pay a monthly subscription. It has now more than 50,000 registered users of this service.