Philip Smith, Active Engineering Manager, ESB Telecoms
As we reflect on the past two years and emerge from lockdown, it is clear to many that our purchasing behaviour has changed. Lockdown has allowed us to reflect on the important things in life, with many people making life-changing decisions. These changes have varied from changing jobs to moving back nearer home to be near parents or simply spending more time with loved ones.
A significant change for many is that many companies now offer flexible office and remote working, with 74% of workers in Dublin working from home most days and 34% outside of Dublin. This has improved work-life balance and increased productivity. Whether it is dropping off the children at school, early morning gym sessions or the traffic congestion to the office, many employees now have the flexibility to work around family and personal activities.
Connectivity evolution
People are now connected all the time, either at home, in the office or on the move, and telecoms companies have had to embrace how users now use their service, ensuring improved connectivity speeds for both fixed broadband and mobile data. Traditionally, home users only used the home broadband in the morning and evenings, as they were based in the office during the day. Now with remote working, users are connected throughout the day to the broadband service. The same is true for mobile data. Rather than users travelling to work and connecting to different mobile cells. Users are now connected to the same cell for longer.
How we use broadband connectivity
Search engines, email and social messaging remain the top three services people use when accessing the Internet. For these services, the highest users are aged between 18 and 34 years. However, unified collaboration (calls and video), online banking and payment apps, and online reading have increased in recent years.
The number of devices connected to home Wi-Fi and Broadband has also increased, such as smart TV’s, smart lighting, smart doorbells, etc. In addition, householders are more likely to have subscription services to streaming services such as Netflix, Disney+, Amazon Prime or Spotify.
Switching Behaviour
According to a recent Connectivity Report by Comreg, one in five bundle owners who are out of contract or contracts expires within 12 months state they are likely to switch bundles within the next 12 months. 45% of those who switched bundles previously now have a lower bill within the current bundle and 71% of those who switched bundles compared bundles before making the switch.
In over 90% of the cases, the switching process was initiated by the household. Overall, most people who have switched broadband provider have seen an improvement in their overall experience, download speeds and reliability. The majority of those who switched their broadband service are happier with their current service provider.
Our Role
ESB Telecoms is a wholesale telecommunications provider that provides a complete connectivity solution for Irish telecommunication providers. We own and operate an extensive telecoms fibre network throughout Ireland. With over 2000km’s of fibre deployed and 430 towers, ESB Telecoms deliver tailored offerings that allow mobile service providers to deliver tomorrow’s speeds to today's customers - supporting a seamless digital service from tower to data centre.
ESB understands the needs of Irish market and how these can be met by deploying critical capital infrastructure – safely, sustainably, and with the highest levels of availability. When looking for a supplier of infrastructure-based solutions, it is hard to ignore the track record of the ESB group.
Significantly, ESB Telecoms converged communications solutions are not just for mobile providers with 5G infrastructure. Our converged tower and fibre offering has the perfect mix of urban and rural transmission locations nationwide to support traditional wireless providers and newer Internet of Things (IoT) networks.
ESB Telecoms proudly enables other mission-critical networks such as emergency services, air traffic control and television and radio stations. While also helping rural wireless broadband providers re-engineer their networks to stay
relevant in the market - addressing the dual challenge of increased broadband speed demands from their customers alongside the requirement to bring fibre to new and existing tower sites. ESB Telecoms Killonan Tower, Co. Limerick is an example of one of the many fibre-enabled towers supporting 5G and broadband services.
To find out how ESB Telecoms can help your business with connectivity or to get more details concerning our extensive tower estate, don't hesitate to contact us today.
For more details contact your ESB Telecoms customer relationship manager or email salesenquiries@esbtelecoms.ie