Internet Content Devs Failing to Take Advantage of Superfast Broadband

A new take-up map for superfast broadband (30Mbps+) connections in the United Kingdom has caused Point Topic to complain that millions of consumers are still “waiting for something to buy” because Internet content developers still haven’t come up with a “killer app” to take advantage of the service.

According to the analyst, some evidence suggests that people revel in the change of pace when they first get superfast broadband and download masses of data. But when the “novelty” wears off they revert to using their broadband in much the same way as they did before.

However this may overlook the historic fact that online data usage continues to surge despite subscriber numbers only growing by a fairly small amount each year (online video content tends to account for most of this), although admittedly this won’t yet be enough to tax most superfast broadband lines.

Oliver Johnson, CEO of Point Topic, said:

“There’s been a massive shift in technology in this country in only three years. But we don’t yet see anybody taking advantage of it to sell new products to the mass consumer market. It’s as if we had built a new motorway network and cars stayed just the same.

A lot of people will be saying ‘I told you so’. There’s still a strong body of opinion which holds there is no need for such high speeds. But we think the killer apps will emerge, it’s just taking a while.

Many have claimed that once built a whole new ecosystem will emerge to fill the superfast niche and beyond. There’s just no real sign of it yet. People behave broadly the same with a hundred megabits downstream as they did with ten.”

Johnson goes on to suggest that some ideas for the fabled “killer app” could be 4K TV (don’t forget 8K after that) or multi-user HD social media services. But do we really need a “killer app” or might the natural evolution of online content take care of that itself?

It’s worth pointing out that anybody with a family, and thus likely to have several Internet-capable devices active at any one time, can already benefit from superfast broadband. Similarly the ability to download a 50GB game for a PS4 or Xbox One console in a comparatively short space of time is another welcome benefit (i.e. big data is done much more quickly).

Lest we not forget that the absence of a killer app doesn’t appear to be stifling take-up too much and most of that has largely taken place in areas that already have access to good connections. Meanwhile, as the roll-out slowly spreads to rural areas, it’s important to remember that slow and unstable broadband will continue to be the best “killer app” for superfast broadband uptake.