Home
 » ISP News » 
Sponsored Links

COVID-19 – Biz Investment in UK Telecoms Remains Steady

Wednesday, Jul 1st, 2020 (10:38 am) - Score 536
ethernet optical fibre

A recent analysis of the latest data from the Office of National Statistics (ONS), which was conducted by tax relief consultancy Catax, has revealed that business investment in the UK telecoms sector has held mostly steady, falling by only 0.6% in a year, as the Coronavirus crisis hit.

Total business investment in the sector fell to £5.92bn in the first quarter (Q1) of 2020, which is down only slightly from £5.96bn in the same period last year. Meanwhile the wider British economy shrank by 10.4% in the first three months to April 2020, which compares with a rise of 0.8% in the first quarter of 2019.

The outcome isn’t a huge surprise since mobile and broadband connectivity has proven itself to be a vital tool during the crisis (working from home etc.). On top of that the problems hit while fixed line ISPs were already busy investing heavily in gigabit-capable broadband upgrades and mobile operators have been deploying ultrafast 5G technology, both sectors of which were also granted key worker status during the lockdown.

Mark Tighe, CEO of Catax, said:

“The telecoms industry has fared much better than most when it comes to the coronavirus pandemic. Broadband has become an essential utility as millions of employees have kept the economy running while working from home.

Research and development of new mobile technology is continuing despite lockdown, meaning that investment has continued to flow in this area.

This is a thriving sector that is less reliant than many on import, export and transportation of material goods. It may also be benefiting from the ability to be more flexible about staff locations and scalable set-up costs.”

On the other hand it’s worth remembering that March 2020 was only the start of the lockdown period, which continued on through April, May and only began to soften in June. Suffice to say that we don’t yet have the full picture of COVID-19’s impact, which of course remains an on-going pandemic.

Share with Twitter
Share with Linkedin
Share with Facebook
Share with Reddit
Share with Pinterest
Mark-Jackson
By Mark Jackson
Mark is a professional technology writer, IT consultant and computer engineer from Dorset (England), he also founded ISPreview in 1999 and enjoys analysing the latest telecoms and broadband developments. Find me on X (Twitter), Mastodon, Facebook and .
Search ISP News
Search ISP Listings
Search ISP Reviews

Comments are closed

Cheap BIG ISPs for 100Mbps+
Community Fibre UK ISP Logo
150Mbps
Gift: None
Virgin Media UK ISP Logo
Virgin Media £24.00
132Mbps
Gift: None
Shell Energy UK ISP Logo
Shell Energy £26.99
109Mbps
Gift: None
Plusnet UK ISP Logo
Plusnet £27.99
145Mbps
Gift: None
Zen Internet UK ISP Logo
Zen Internet £28.00 - 35.00
100Mbps
Gift: None
Large Availability | View All
Cheapest ISPs for 100Mbps+
Gigaclear UK ISP Logo
Gigaclear £15.00
150Mbps
Gift: None
YouFibre UK ISP Logo
YouFibre £19.99
150Mbps
Gift: None
Community Fibre UK ISP Logo
150Mbps
Gift: None
BeFibre UK ISP Logo
BeFibre £21.00
150Mbps
Gift: £25 Love2Shop Card
Hey! Broadband UK ISP Logo
150Mbps
Gift: None
Large Availability | View All
The Top 15 Category Tags
  1. FTTP (5473)
  2. BT (3505)
  3. Politics (2525)
  4. Openreach (2291)
  5. Business (2251)
  6. Building Digital UK (2234)
  7. FTTC (2041)
  8. Mobile Broadband (1961)
  9. Statistics (1780)
  10. 4G (1654)
  11. Virgin Media (1608)
  12. Ofcom Regulation (1451)
  13. Fibre Optic (1392)
  14. Wireless Internet (1386)
  15. FTTH (1381)

Helpful ISP Guides and Tips

Promotion
Sponsored

Copyright © 1999 to Present - ISPreview.co.uk - All Rights Reserved - Terms , Privacy and Cookie Policy , Links , Website Rules , Contact
Mastodon