Latest mobile broadband review reveals gaps in 3G coverage
The UK telecom governing body, Ofcom says 3G mobile broadband does not have an uniform coverage, showing many notspots especially in rural areas. Ofcom’s review of the UK mobile broadband highlights two interesting facts: first, many rural areas of Britain have no access to mobile broadband, second, the mobile broadband speeds vary significantly from area to area, and they drastically fall down in peak hours.
3G mobile broadband coverage in the UK
Mobile broadband adoption has been up signifcantly, says Ofcom. More than two million new customers have taken up mobile broadband between February 2008 and February 2009. The usage of fixed-line phone is also continually dropping. More users seem to prefer mobile to fixed lines. During the last year, the call minutes on mobiles shot up by 11 billion, while fixed-line phone calls declined by 8 billion minutes.
The latest report from broadband analyst firm Epitro gives out many interesting numbers on mobile broadband and the usage behaviour of UK broadband consumers. There is a wide-spread belief that mobile broadband providers in the UK are not able to deliver the speeds they advertise.
The Epitro survey confirms this: mobile broadband customers get just a quarter of the advertised speeds – such as 3Mbps or 7.2Mbps or whatever is just a myth. The average speed of mobile broabdand is well under 1Mbps in the UK.
The traffic congestion also determines how much speed you can get at a particular time. During peak hours, the speeds dwindle and many users may find it difficult to make faster downloads. Average speeds can shot up to 1.8Mbps during non-peak hours, i.e. after 0300 hours.
Rory Cellan-Jones, the BBC technology analyst says the existing mobile networks “need to build more six-lane highways to replace those B-roads where the traffic keeps getting stuck.” Well said, indeed. We might hope Digital Britain would release more 3G spectrum as it promised in its latest report to improve 3G coverage in the UK.
Ofcom also points out the mobile usage has been spread to internet related activities during the last five years. On average, in a mobile user’s bill, we find mobile broadband usage contributes 6 percent of the total amount as compared to just 1 percent five years ago.
3G mobile broadband needs a new technology to fill the gaps in coverage, says Audrey Gallacher of Consumer Focus. This will help increasing mobile broadband adoption and also for uniform tariff in mobile broadband market.
“Accessing the best deal in a market where mobile operators offer a bewildering array of over 200,000 different tariffs is a real challenge,”
She further says:
“With mobiles now treated as an essential service rather than a luxury, there is more pressure than ever before on mobile companies to give consumers a fair deal and make mobile services accessible to all,”
That’s true, every technology like broadband perceived as a luxury in the beginning becomes an essential part of our lives in due course.
