400,000 SMBs still don’t have access to superfast broadband

According to the recent Ofcom survey, consumer lines are running faster compared to their business broadband connection. Ofcom conducts a Connected Nations survey every year. This year, the survey reports that the small businesses are still lagging behind. Of the total subjects being surveyed, 68% of the small businesses do not have a super fast broadband connection. A low number compared to the entire UK, which is at 83% proliferation of superfast broadband.

The percentage translates to about 400,000 small businesses that have no superfast broadband connection. Also, almost half of the number is not receiving Internet speeds of more than 10Mbps. 30Mbs or higher is what is considered as a super fast connection by Ofcom.

John Allan is the National chairman for the Federation of Small business, and he commented about the issue. According to him, for many small businesses in the UK, access to superfast broadband is a problem for quite some time now. Although progress is being pressed forward, yet a large number of small firms are still in the slow lane.

This report underlines the government’s newly published commitment to pave way for a 10Mbps Universal Service Obligation, or also known as the USO. The move is to help determine the baseline broadband speed. This allows small business to take full advantage of the benefits of the Internet, such as increased productivity.

Allan further commented that the new USO must also include measurable targets that directly concerns small businesses, which should include delivering consistent and reliable internet service.

The full Ofcom report suggests that by 2017, 95% of the entire UK will have access to superfast broadband service. Yet, there will still be 17% of small businesses that will still be in the slow lane.

One employee of an IT company states that the slow internet speed and the constant disconnections that results from the poor internet accessibility leads to a more difficult job. Quality and productivity of work are reduced to levels that he is not comfortable with, and it’s not his fault.

Another key point that surfaces from Ofcom’s report is all about the rate of expansion of superfast broadband in the rural areas, which private companies are scurrying to provide faster broadband lines. In some locations, the first ultrafast broadband speeds were being offered. Ofcom defines ultrafast as 300Mbps, and it’s only available for 2% of the entire premise.

More than 80% of homeowners have access to super fast broadband. 27% are already subscribed. For people with high-speed internet access, data consumption is on the rise. The change in data consumption reflects that change in the way people make use of the Internet, possibly taking full advantage of 4k video.