Industry figures suggest that the number of small business and home broadband connections in the UK increased throughout the first half of 2015.
Broadband connections
Telecoms industry regulator Ofcom has released its ‘Market Update’ for the second quarter of 2015. This paper highlights some of the key industry trends that emerged from April to June this year, through data collected from the UK telecoms sector.
According to energy price comparison site USwitch, there were 24.17 million fixed line small business and home broadband internet service provider (ISP) connections in the UK at the end of Q2 2015. This represents an increase of roughly 167,000 from Q1, but a reduction of 277,000 on the closing quarter of 2014.
Connection speeds
The Market Update also found that UK-based small businesses and homes are continuing to desert older style copper line ADSL / ADSL2+ connections. These have traditionally served as the preferred broadband connection option for most small companies and homes in Britain, providing them with speeds of between 8 and 20 Mbps.
Small businesses and homes are moving towards ‘fibre optic’ broadband, which supplies faster connection speeds. Baroness Neville-Rolfe, the parliamentary undersecretary of state for the department of business, innovation and skills, recently noted that 83% of UK homes and businesses currently have ‘superfast’ broadband’ of at least 24 Mbps. By the end of 2017, superfast broadband will be available to 95% of homes and businesses.
Commenting in a speech on how the government will help small businesses enter the UK’s digital economy, the Baroness said:“The Prime Minister has announced a Universal Service Obligation of 10 megabytes from 2020 in recognition of the fact that broadband is in effect now a fourth utility, and a disruptive one at that.” This will ensure that all UK small to medium sized enterprises (SMEs) can access vital broadband connections, in order to tap into the UK’s increasingly lucrative digital sector.
Verastar
Broadband is rapidly becoming the UK’s fourth utility. Small businesses need effective broadband to offer online services in an increasingly digital global marketplace. As such, UK small business broadband connections rose in the second quarter of this year, and they’re likely to keep increasing as we move into 2016.
Verastar is a leading provider of essential business services to micro SMEs, operating under the following brands: Kinex, Clear Business Water, Titan Telecom, Marble Telecom, Economy Gas and 118777 Limited. Our business model is focused on providing a spectrum of consolidated services that disrupt traditional markets and create great savings, efficiencies and value for our customers.
