21923 - SCTE Broadband Aug2023 COMPLETE v1 (1)

22 Vol. 45 No. 3 - September 2023 Issue industry news Another report has been released by the hardworking folk at Ofcom, who are nothing if not prolific; this time they have taken a deep dive into various aspects of mobile and broadband activity. Covering connectivity, digital inclusion and equality, emerging technology and customer satisfaction, this is the seventh report of its kind and is exhaustive in its scope and detail. Continued growth and expansion of broadband connectivity is well covered; the report indicates that access to superfast broadband has significantly improved, with 48% of homes now having access to broadband speeds of 30Mbps or higher. Access is the operative word, however, since the number of actual homes passed languishes at only 5.5million. Despite overall progress, a significant portion of the population, particularly in rural areas, still faces challenges in accessing reliable broadband services. The SCTE will be covering this in a lot of detail at our Autumn Lecture & AGM in London on October 12 . Full details to be announced shortly. The stress on bandwidth is increasing year on year with our increased reliance on streaming services, gaming and remote working, leading to the report calling for further investment in fibre optic infrastructure, which offers the potential for faster speeds and greater bandwidth capacity. The emergence of 5G is only adding to our problems. In our Spring Lecture we explored in some detail how, due to various macroeconomic conditions, investment is increasingly difficult to come by now. You can see in-depth coverage of the investment landscape on our YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@ thescte It is widely acknowledged now that beyond speed, latency and reliability, there is little to differentiate one provider from another, so service is king. This is in line with recent guidance from Ofcom on the terminology employed by providers who have not always been clear about what fibre and full-fibre actually mean; in this new report the regulator encourages further transparency from service providers, urging them to provide accurate and accessible information about their service performance, allowing consumers to make informed decisions when choosing their broadband provider. Ian McRae, Director of Market Intelligence at Ofcom said, “We did a piece of work called the Key Driver Analysis, where we found that the biggest single driver of customer dissatisfaction with services was the length of time it took operators to answer the call.” The average time is two minutes and 23 seconds, which in an industry defined by connectivity is obviously unacceptable. Ofcom releases newmobile and broadband report Keep track of our activities, news and events! www.linkedin.com/company/scte-the-society-for-broadband-professionals-/ www.facebook.com/SocietyforBroadbandProfessionals/ www.twitter.com/scte_