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Operators
April 6, 2020
Liverpool came out on top of the study as the best city for mobile business usage
Over half of UK businesses have called for better mobile reliability for remote working in order to maintain high productivity.
That is according to a study carried out by network benchmark tester Global Wireless Solutions (GWS), which revealed Liverpool is the best UK city for mobile business usage.
The report sampled close to one million data and voice task tests on iOS and Android devices in the fourth quarter of last year and was done alongside a nationwide poll of over 200 businesses ranging between 100 employees to over 5,000 earlier this year through Vanson Bourne.
Among the key findings of the study, it was revealed that businesses across the UK are in the ‘sweet spot’ for speed 96 per cent of the time, with mobile networks enabling consumers to complete various online activities between four and six seconds.
While Three-quarters (75 per cent) of businesses accepted that this was an acceptable length of time to wait when completing activities, with only 18 per cent of businesses citing speed as a reason for complaining.
Mixed bag
However while Liverpool topped the chart for being the best city for mobile usage, the capital London ranked 25th out of the 33 cities listed.
Reading, Durham, Leeds and Dumfries ranked as the bottom four overall, with other big cities such as Edinburgh and Newcastle below London too.
Although Carmarthen, Worcester, Lincoln and Cardiff were some of the better cities, closely following Liverpool.
Just over half of businesses (52 per cent) said the need for more reliable connectivity for remote working was a priority over the next 12 months, with 75 per cent saying that productivity suffers as a result.
The need for better connectivity when remote working has never been needed more, with the current coronavirus outbreak limiting access to workplaces for millions across the country.
Among complaints for poor connectivity while working from home, 39 per cent of businesses said its employees moaned about mobile signal, followed by 28 per cent suffering dropped calls.
Critical
GWS Ceo Paul Carter said: “Networks play a critical role in enabling businesses to function both inside and outside of the office, and over the last few weeks it’s clear that operators are really helping to keep the country going.
“Whilst it’s encouraging to see many cities across the country performing well when we tested before the current crisis, in today’s current economic climate, the ability for businesses everywhere to function effectively remotely is more important than ever before.
“The business world we know has changed dramatically over the last few weeks, and those businesses who were not already offering remote working options have been forced to do so. It’s therefore crucial that operators understand how businesses are using – and want to use – their network so they can provide services that meet their needs.
“Operators must focus on not only on ensuring their network speeds remain adequate but also on ensuring consistent reliability across the country. That way, businesses will be able to continue to offer remote seamless working solutions without compromising on productivity.”