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August 6, 2015

The industry reacts: 5 take-aways from Ofcom’s report

techUK, Fujitsu, Accellion, Virtusa and WorldPay Ecommerce react to Ofcom's latest Communications Market report.

By Alexander Sword

Another year, another Ofcom report, this time revealing that for the first time, more UK consumers use smartphones to get online than PCs. 5 tech experts gave their opinions on the report and the implications for the smartphone nation.

1. techUK

Raj Sivalingam, executive director, telecoms, techUK, hails the UK’s digital progress.

"Ofcom’s Communications Market Report once again confirms the UK as one of the most exciting digital markets in the world. Fixed download speeds have trebled, while mobile speeds have more than doubled with the availability of 4G.

"The good news is that UK consumers show no loss of appetite for doing things online whether through fixed or mobile means. But the challenge for the industry is to satisfy the increasing customer demands in the face of reducing revenues.

"This can only be done by reducing the cost of implementing and running the world class networks that our digital economy demand s- and the Government should leave no stone unturned in improving the investment incentives for industry."

 

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2. Fujitsu

Regina Moran, CEO in UK and Ireland at Fujitsu, by contrast argues that the report reveals some worrying traits about the UK’s advancement.

"The fact that 15 percent of UK adults do not have household access to the Internet highlights that there are still a lot more to be done before the UK is a truly digital nation. According to Fujitsu’s Digital Inside Out study, we are already well on our way to becoming "digital first", with a fifth of UK consumers always choosing the ‘digital-first’ option where available.

"This means that, right now, 15 percent of the population are in danger of being left behind on the digital journey. This cannot be allowed to happen. Every single digital stakeholder – from the Government to technology providers – must work together to ensure the entire nation is ready for a digitally-led world.

 

3. Accellion

Claire Galbois-Alcaix, Director of Cloud Solutions, Accellion, argues that the enterprise needs to learn from the report.

"Surprise, surprise, Ofcom’s latest report has revealed that smartphones are now the UK’s most popular device for getting online. What’s truly surprising is that the enterprise has still not got its head around this fact, and still lags behind on mobile security.

"4G-enabled smartphones are great for enhancing productivity and allowing for flexible working, but many employees are still careless about mobile security.

"This carelessness is creating new security risks that attackers are exploiting via data breaches, hacks, internal fraud cases and more. So why don’t our organisations get the message?

"It is time to address the risks posed in this digital age by setting forth security policies and deploying enterprise grade security solutions. This has been uttered time and time again, yet too many organisations are still taking a "wait and see" approach, which leaves them forever playing catch-up with sophisticated cyber criminals."

 

4. Virtusa

Guru Grewal, Global Head of Telco Solutions for Virtusa has some advice for telecoms providers following the findings.

"The report continues to shows telco revenues in decline, falling by 2% to £37.4bn in 2014 – losing market share every year since 2008 is unsustainable and, with EU data roaming charges due to be phased out by 2017, the need to look at new cost-effective approaches, such as introducing SDN, has never been more urgent.

"With Ofcom’s figures also showing that two thirds of people now own a smartphone for internet browsing, overtaking laptops as the most popular way of getting online, there clearly is a huge market for telcos to tap in to.

"There is a real need for CSPs to be more innovative about the services they offer to customers and to make greater use of technology to create more revenue opportunities as others dry up.

 

5. Worldpay eCommerce

Kevin Dallas, Chief Product Officer at Worldpay eCommerce, argues that the report reveals the need for a change in customer focus.

"2015 is quickly shaping up to be the year that the smartphone takes over online commerce. Google kicked things off earlier this year by optimising its search algorithm to favour mobile users, and today’s news only confirms that mobiles have become peoples’ go-to device for web access."

"The smartphone lies at the centre of our on-demand lifestyle, and companies that want to keep engaging online shoppers must adapt to this reality or risk becoming irrelevant.

"This doesn’t just come down to being present on mobile search, but to actually making the online shopping and payments experience on a smartphone as seamless as consumers today have come to expect ."

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