More than four in 10 UK businesses (42%) regard moving to higher capacity connectivity in the next two years as essential to their growth plans — rating it either ‘integral’ or ‘greatly important’ to their future success.
This is one of the headline findings of the UK Business Gigabit Connectivity Report produced by business ethernet backhaul provider Neos Networks, with insights from decision-makers in 160 UK companies.
Amongst businesses that had invested in connectivity in the last 24 months, nearly one in eight (11.2%) stated that doing so had had a direct impact on business profitability, with 98.3% seeing indirect impacts on productivity, staff retention and client collaboration.
Top reasons for investing in higher capacity connectivity are increased computer power (22.4%), operational developments creating more data and higher capacity requirements (21.2%) and greater device usage for each employee (11.6%).
One in 10 UK businesses are actively looking to increase their connectivity to better integrate AI into their processes.
One in five states that their existing internet speeds are already ‘insufficient’ for everyday operations. Over half (55.6%) say they have risked losing a client or customer as a consequence of poor internet connectivity, speed or reliability.
Commenting on the finding, Simon Willmott, Director of Wholesale Business Development at Neos Networks, said: “The business appetite for high-capacity connectivity is clear, and this provides a great opportunity for AltNet providers. As businesses strive to keep pace with technology, companies in underserved rural and competitive urban areas will naturally require greater network capacity.
“While the UK government has backed network investment with Project Gigabit, they must now go further in making connectivity expansion commercially viable – with grant incentives, access rights and wayleaves. Supporting AltNets to unlock the next stage of network expansion in this way can only be positive for UK business and solidify the UK’s position as world leaders in the digital economy.”
When business leaders were asked if their business had felt a notable impact from the government’s Project Gigabit rollout, just 52.5% said yes
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