Fixed wireless supplied by 5G networks already reach a subatantial portion of U.K. homes and businesses.
Ofcom notes that “94 percent of U.K. premises have access to an MNO (mobile network operator) FWA (fixed wireless access) service.”
Mobile operators claim average download speeds up to 100 Mbps to 200 Mbps on their 5G fixed wireless services, Ofcom says.
The reason that coverage could be important is that most customers in the United Kingdom buy internet access service at about 30 Mbps. So 5G fixed wireless offers faster speeds. The issue, as always, is demand.
Ofcom’s latest research shows the continuing lag between broadband supply and demand. In other words, it is one thing to make FTTH or gigabit-per-second internet access available. It is something else to entice customers to buy such services.
Fiber-to-home facilities now are available to more than eight million U.K. homes, or 28 percent of dwelling units.
Meanwhile, gigabit-capable broadband is available to 13.7 million homes, or 47 percent of total homes. But take-up of gigabit speed services is still low, with around seven percent of FTTH customers buying gigabit services, says Ofcom.
ThinkBroadband claims gigabit coverage is about 65 percent of U.K. homes. If that is correct then take rates for gigabit service are lower than seven percent.
Fully 96 percent of U.K. premises have access to 30 Mbps broadband connections. About 69 percent of locations able to buy 30 Mbps actually buy it, says Ofcom.
Satellite services add more potential coverage. “For example, Konnect states that its satellite covers around 75 percent of the U.K. and offers commercial services on a 24/7 basis direct to consumers with download speeds between 30 Mbps and 100 Mbps, with upload speeds averaging 3 Mbps.”
New low earth orbit satellite services such as Starlink also are coming. “Starlink indicates that users can currently expect to see 100 Mpbs to 200 Mbps or greater download speeds and upload speeds of 10 Mbps to 20 Mbpss with latency of 20 milliseconds or lower in most locations,” says Ofcom.
The point is that although we might think consumers would jump at the chance to buy either FTTH service or gigabit-per-second service, that is not the case. Only about 28 percent of households able to buy FTTH service do so, while just seven percent of households able to buy gigabit service do so.
To a large extent, internet service providers are investing ahead of demand, rather than following consumer demand. That is one key reason why customer experience did not fall off a cliff when pandemic-related shutdowns happened. ISPs already had created excess supply.
That is likely to be the trend virtually forever.
No comments:
Post a Comment