CBNL Survey and TalkTalk CEO Say UK Business Broadband is Poor

A new survey of 200 UK businesses, which was commissioned by Cambridge Broadband Networks (CBNL), has found that 47% are not receiving the broadband speeds promised by their ISP, while 35% have been negatively impacted by slow speeds and 34% suffered significant periods of network downtime.

The data, which was collected by market research firm Mobilesquared, suggests that many businesses may be seeking a faster and more reliable broadband option, yet 56% choose to remain with their current ISP rather than switch. The reasons for not switching tended to vary but 32% said they wanted to avoid disruption, while 23% were tied into long contracts and 16% are restricted to the services provided as part of a building lease.

At this point we should highlight that CBNL are a provider of Point-to-Multipoint (PMP) Microwave and Millimetre Wave (mmW) wireless network connections, which means they aren’t independent observers and have a clear vested interest (although there’s no denying that businesses in a lot of areas can still suffer due to a lack of better connectivity options).

In keeping with the above, CBNL’s survey proudly proclaims that 89% of UK businesses said they would “consider switching to wireless broadband,” provided the speed and reliability was comparable to, or greater than, their existing broadband. We note that the key differentiator of price is conspicuous by its absence, but it does appear more generally in their report.

The study also claims that the “need for more efficient infrastructure is illustrated by the fact that over half (56%) of businesses spend less than 30% of their IT budget on connectivity,” although that’s a very wishy-washing correlation because quite a few businesses may not strictly require a fast broadband link (fish & chip shops etc.).

Lionel Chmilewsky, CBNL CEO, said:

“This data shows the vital role high capacity wireless can play, providing a more attractive business case to connect under-served businesses and quickly scale existing networks to multi-gigabit speeds.

More specifically, the data shows the benefits that 26GHz can bring to the UK enterprise market and the value of Ofcom’s decision to call for inputs to inform their programme of work to make spectrum in the band available for 5G.

Increasing availability of millimetre wave, such as this, is vital to stimulate broadband investment across global markets, enabling operators to unlock the capacity of high band spectrum and bring more competitive services to market.

We’ve seen through our own work in deploying networks in over 50 countries, including for seven of the top 10 largest mobile operator groups, the positive impact this can have on economies.

Leveraging innovative techniques, such as this, is key to addressing gaps in broadband service and providing the next generation connectivity that will be central to the long-term success of UK plc.”

Meanwhile TalkTalk’s CEO, Tristia Harrison, has separately also criticised the quality of business broadband connectivity in Britain. However, unlike CBNL’s wireless orientated musings, Tristia focuses more upon the desire for a wider roll-out of fixed line “full fibre” (FTTP/H) ultrafast broadband connectivity (the Government’s forthcoming “full fibre” vouchers might be a help with this).

“The UK is far behind many other developed countries in regards to fibre to the home or premises coverage … Broadband needs to be treated as a fourth ‘utility’ with sufficient capacity to allow data to flow at the volume, speed and reliability required to meet the demands of modern life,” said Tristia.

Perhaps of more interest is the fact that Tristia was speaking as part of a publicity drive to kick off TalkTalk’s somewhat delayed FTTP/H expansion to another 40,000 premises in the city of York (the ISP announced this one year ago). So far they’ve already reached about 15,000 premises and the next rollout phase should take this total to c.55,000.

On the other hand York is home to around 80,000 premises and so Phase 2 might not deliver full coverage. On top of that York is so far TalkTalk’s only FTTP/H city deployment, although that may change if their joint venture partner Cityfibre ever gets around to announcing more FTTH cities (assuming TalkTalk takes part in that). It’s possible that Openreach’s recent FTTP consultation might have also impacted some of their plans.