British Bankers Association Demands Better Universal Broadband and Mobile

The British Bankers Association has called on the Government to invest more money into delivering universal broadband and mobile connectivity to plug not-spots and thus allow more customers to take advantage of mobile and Internet banking, which is becoming increasingly popular.

According to CACI’s research for the BBA, some 49.9 million adults live in Great Britain and yet 1.1% of those have poor Internet access; this equates to 530,000 adults with “limited Internet speed” (see below for how the BBA defines ‘limited’). Crucially some 330,000 of that 530,000 total said they would be willing to bank online.

The 530,000 adults have:
• Average download speeds of 1.4Mbit/s.
• Superfast broadband is available to just 3% of these people and uptake among those is low.
• Mobile provides an alternative for 470,000 of the 530,000 people (88%).
• However, 63,000 people in parts of Wales and Scotland, and small pockets of England, still have no acceptable digital access at all (63,000 adults in total).

Given the above it’s hardly surprising that the banks would want ministers to “invest more heavily” in 3G, 4G (Mobile Broadband) and high speed broadband services. But as banks they will understand that such demands cost money (occurring at a time of deepening cuts), which requires time and patience in order to both find the funding and then to deliver the service properly.

Anthony Browne, CEO of the BBA, said:

“Technology is changing our lives and banking is no different – it is now easier than ever for us to check our balances, pay our friends and manage our money. The rapid take up of apps and mobile banking appears to be a real game changer for the British public.

Our report shows that there is much to look forward to. Biometric security features will allow us to get hold of our money faster and without going through the rigmarole of passwords and PIN codes. The possibilities of using data analytics to give customers greater insight into how they spend their money and the best offers, services or products is very exciting too.

It is vital that the government invests more in 4G and high-speed broadband to ensure that as many people as possible can be included in the revolution that is sweeping through banking.”

The Government would perhaps point towards the on-going investment of £1.7bn into improving national fixed line broadband connectivity, which among other things is working to make superfast broadband (24Mbps+) services available to 95% by 2017 and they’re currently now trying to figure out the best approach for tackling the final 5%.

On top of that there are several mobile projects, which will see 4G being made available to 98-99% of the population by the end of 2015 (later for some operators), while geographic (landmass) coverage of mobile data (3G + 4G) services should reach 85% by 2017 (here).

As ever the challenge is in connecting the most remote or difficult to reach rural AND urban areas, where various physical and or technical barriers can often make it extremely expensive to upgrade. Furthermore the low population density of many related areas makes it significantly more challenging to gain a return on the initial investment and that can encourage weaker solutions, such as Satellite, to be adopted instead.

Elsewhere the banks have also published an interesting table to show how popular the mobile and Internet banking phenomenon has become (figures are in the ‘millions’).