A new report suggests that UK businesses will benefit significantly if the government’s targets for blanket broadband coverage are met.

Broadband is now considered to be an essential commodity for home users as well as business customers and although the importance of high speed broadband for businesses is well known, it is equally important that sufficient customers are able to get online and access services in driving revenues.

According to a new report authored by the Institute of Practitioners in Advertising (IPA), UK businesses could net an additional £1.4 billion in ad revenue if every household in the UK is given access to a 2Mbps (minimum) broadband connection, which is the government’s plan.

It is estimated that nearly five per cent of UK citizens are stuck with sluggish dial-up internet connections, whilst many more have no kind of internet access at all in their homes. This means that there is an untapped market out there from which businesses could benefit if universal broadband becomes a reality.

The IPA believes that nearly 37 per cent of consumers would make a purchase online if their internet experience was boosted with a broadband connection, which would make ad space more valuable and drive further revenue for businesses in all sectors.

The IPA’s Nigel Gwilliam noted the degree to which broadband had shaped market trends and influenced the behaviour of consumers online. Mr Gwilliam also said that the new report was the first of its kind, demonstrating that home broadband connectivity was directly linked into the success of businesses.

Simple Broadband’s Communication Manager Simon Gerrard added that “Businesses will benefit hugely from the arrival of universal broadband and the best news is that the opportunities will be relevant to any enterprise from any background with the ambition to make waves online.”

ISP Eclipse Internet has said that it will be allowing consumers to sign up for two new cheap cable broadband packages as of April 2010.

The deals will offer download speeds of up to 40Mbps, coupled with maximum upload speeds of 10Mbps and Eclipse is using the same fibre-to-the-cabinet (FTTC) technology that BT has introduced for its Infinity range.

FTTC is a hybrid of ADSL and fibre optic technology, with the telephone cabinets in residential streets connected via underground cable, whilst consumer properties will still use copper wiring for the final connection.

For the time being, Eclipse will be packaging its FTTC services in order to appeal to business customers, although there is a high possibility that retail consumers will be able to take advantage of the bundles at a lower price point in the future.

Eclipse’s director Clodagh Murphy said that his firm was taking steps to bring next generation broadband technology to as many of its customers as possible. Mr Murphy said that business customers would be able to run VoIP and video conferencing services with ease and also suggested that setting up VPN connectivity for remote working would be possible for smaller businesses.

The two packages on offer, Eclipse Fibre and Eclipse Fibre Pro, will both have a maximum download speed of 40Mbps, although the Pro version will have a 10Mbps maximum upload speeds as opposed to the 2Mbps offered with the cheaper deal.

There will be an installation fee of £75 to cover, but Eclipse is going out on a limb and guaranteeing its customers a minimum download speed of 12Mbps, which is refreshing.

Simple Broadband’s Communication Manager Simon Gerrard commented “Eclipse Internet is offering a compelling reason to compare business broadband packages, particularly if an enterprise is being restricted by the speed of its current connection.”

TalkTalk could begin bundling in home phone, mobile phone and subscription TV services with its future broadband packages according to reports.

With four services included in a single monthly bill, TalkTalk would be competing directly with Virgin Media, which also offers quadruple deals. Virgin Media does, however, have the availability of cheap cable broadband on its side, but TalkTalk would be able to reach a wider audience with its proposed services.

It looks as though TalkTalk will being instigating its new plans for extensive broadband bundles once it has completely decoupled from The Carphone Warehouse, which will cease to own the provider as of the 29th of March this year.

With over four million broadband and home phone customers in the UK, TalkTalk is one of the most significant players in the market and it will probably be able to convert many of its existing customers over to its 4 way bundles when they arrive later in the year. At this time there is no official news as to what types of mobile phone packages might be made available, although they are certain to be competitive.

TalkTalk is busy on Project Canvas, which is its own attempt to unify and standardise the provision of digital television and catchup services via broadband connections. This could see it offering popular services such as the BBC iPlayer in the future.

The one barrier that TalkTalk faces when it comes to digital TV via broadband will be getting hold of commercial content. Subscription TV from Virgin Media and Sky is already established in this area and these firms could be unwilling to offer TalkTalk a slice of the action although the lure of a cheap cable broadband subscriber base may help.

Simple Broadband’s Communication Manager Simon Gerrard added “When TalkTalk brings its broadband bundles to the market, it could quickly win itself many new customers who are looking for a unified deal.”

Virgin Media is believed to be in the process of rethinking its marketing strategies in order to reach a wider audience and to encourage more people to look at its high speed fibre optic broadband deals rather than focusing on BT broadband options instead.

Advertising industry experts at Marketing Week revealed that Virgin Media has talked to the firms that run its many different campaigns and has challenged them to create a new selection of marketing options in order to bolster the public profile of cable broadband.

Broadening the appeal of broadband and making people more aware of the differences between ADSL and cable connections is a sensible idea, particularly now that BT is offering its own Infinity service, which some might assume is essentially the same as the Virgin Media offering, although this is not, in fact, the case.

Along with new ad campaigns, Virgin Media is also likely to overhaul its current line up of broadband deals, although how it will go about this remains unknown. It could well choose to focus on bringing 50Mbps deals down in price, making them more attractive to a wider audience, as the benefits of high download speeds and more consistent connections are key that Virgin Media is slightly underplaying compared to its rivals.

Virgin Media continues to innovate in its offering of broadband bundles that include home phone, digital TV and even mobile service provision along with cable connectivity. Perhaps it will focus on communicating just how convenient this type of bundle offering can be, particularly if value for money is of greater concern than download speeds and monthly data allowances to consumers.

Simple Broadband’s Simon Gerrard said “Virgin Media has always created some interesting advertisements, but perhaps it should take a leaf from Virgin Airlines and follow the classic mantra of ’sex sells’ to drag consumers away from BT broadband options.”

The changes that are currently afoot in the home broadband market are set to alter the face of the industry as we know it. Whilst it appears that landline customers are going to experience a rise in the cost of their services, people who opt for bundle deals will be getting a better price for their connections.

Starting in April, BT is altering the definitions of off-peak for its inclusive call package users, moving the start time in the evenings from 6pm to 7pm. However, according to a report from Simplydigital.co.uk there is a chance that BT broadband deals will be getting cheaper after O2 launches its own home broadband and phone service bundle, undercutting rivals on price.

O2 is going to combine the price of line rental and broadband into a one-off payment that will cost customers £17 each month on a 12 month contract. Considering that Virgin Media is putting up the cost of its line rental, people who had given up on ADSL broadband and moved to cable could well be switching back to save cash.

Not every consumer will be looking for value above all else in their home broadband packages and speed has recently proven to be an increasingly important factor as fibre optic broadband connections become more widely available.

In 2010 it seems as if there is a push within the telecoms industry to encourage consumers to put all of their eggs into one basket and sign on for multiple services from the same firm. Since the majority of broadband customers also require home phone and digital television in some form, it makes sense to save money and commit to a package.

Simple Broadband’s Communications Manager Simon Gerrard said “It is advisable to save money by opting for BT broadband deals with multiple services bundled together, although price comparison is more important than ever.”

PlusNet is already considered to be one of the best value broadband providers in the UK for home users and now it has a fresh range of packages aimed at small and medium sized businesses who want quality without excessive cost.

The basic package is Business Option One, which has a maximum download speed of 8Mbps and includes a 10GB monthly data allowance coupled with a free wireless router. As with most PlusNet deals there is also unlimited off-peak usage, which might be useful if you are planning on some late night working.

Options Two and Three offer more of the same, including larger data allowances, free VoIP calling, larger webspace for setting up a business site and faster upload speeds if you take the most expensive package.

PlusNet is consistently ranked as one of the best broadband providers in the UK when it comes to value, although it is also recommended for its UK-based customer service teams and its willingness to serve its customers. It has relied on word of mouth rather than expensive advertising campaigns, to grow over the years, which should be seen as a positive.

If you are looking for an alternative to the BT business broadband packages out there then you might want to compare their prices with the new line up for business users from PlusNet.

Simple Broadband’s Communications Manager Simon Gerrard said “Comparing the various business broadband packages on offer is always advisable and can save small businesses considerably. If it is value you are after then PlusNet offers a compelling range which is not compromised in any way by its low price and which offers even better value if you sign up for 24 months.”

A new move by BT, which will see it allowing third party providers access to its network of underground tunnels, could mean that cheap cable broadband from rivals will be on the way.

Fibre optic broadband is set to be the most common form of connection over the coming years as it allows for much faster download speeds than older ADSL technology using copper telephone wiring.

Firms such as TalkTalk have expressed interest in taking advantage of BT’s offer, which will allow them to lay their own high speed networks underground using existing conduits rather than having to spend millions digging their own.

Sky said that the idea of the open access was appealing, although admitted that at this time it had no interest in setting up a cable network of its own.

BT has been partly pushed into the move after it came under pressure from politicians and other industry groups to make the broadband infrastructure of the UK more open to competition. Obviously there is the potential for BT’s Wholesale division, which resells its current networks to third party providers, to lose out in the new plans, but for the consumer it is likely to be a catalyst in the availability of cheap cable broadband across a wider area.

BT will be putting one and a half billion pounds into its own fibre optic network and it will then be able to sell this on to Sky and others in the future. Some believe that the plans laid out by BT are relatively risky, although in general the move has been regarded with optimism.

Simple Broadband’s Communication Manager Simon Gerrard added “Consumers who are crossing their fingers for fibre optic broadband in their area should consider BT’s plans a very positive step indeed. Competition in the cable market can only mean lower prices and higher speeds in the long run.”

A deal has been struck between mobile broadband network provider O2 and telecoms giant BT which will see the maintenance and development of O2’s networks placed in the hands of its former owners.

You will have to cast your mind back nearly a decade to when O2 was known as BT Cellnet in order to see the links between the two firms in their entirety. It was in 2001 that O2 was born from a variety of subsidiaries of BT and later bought out by Spanish firm Telefonica in 2006.

Mobile phone and mobile broadband packages have always been O2’s main products, but after first offering home broadband and then proposing home telephone deals, O2 looked as though it would be competing directly with BT for the same audiences.

But relations between O2 and BT are clearly healthy, as the pair have just signed a five year contract that will be worth millions of pounds and will commit the BT Wholesale division to overhauling O2’s mobile broadband network.

Well publicised performance hitches with the current 3G network operated by O2 are likely to have prompted the inception of the partnership and the large volume of mobile data traffic that O2 has had to handle as a result of its growing iPhone user base is also a contributing factor.

O2’s Nigel Purdy said that the deal was indicative of O2’s desire to keep its networks and products relevant well into the future.

Simple Broadband’s Simon Gerrard added “O2 is clearly taking on board any criticisms that have been levelled at its mobile broadband service in recent times. With Orange mobile broadband free laptop deals making headlines and its rivals offering wider network coverage, O2 will really be looking to maximise its network capabilities in the future and BT will help to make that a reality.”

A new report into broadband use by small and medium sized enterprises has discovered that nearly half of all small businesses are not making the most out of their broadband connections.

Analysis of numerous small businesses around the UK performed by Business Link has resulted in statistics showing that 45 per cent of small businesses do not have a website or a plan allowing them to market themselves online and bring in new customers.

Two thirds of respondents to a survey conducted by Business Link also said that they were very much in favour of creating and operating their own website. Even the 55 per cent of small businesses that do have their own websites are not taking full advantage of the extras offered by BT business broadband packages and others.

Business Link’s Tony Cattermole said that there was a growing gap between those small and medium businesses who had jumped on the broadband bandwagon and those that had not.

Mr Cattermole also said that the small businesses that really took advantage of all that a broadband connection and a website could offer were able to generate income, contact customers and provide the perfect place in which to advertise new services and products. Since websites are relatively cheap to set up and run, they are also a more efficient tool for marketing and communication for small businesses than traditional means.

Simon Gerrard, Communications Manager at Simple Broadband added that “Business broadband packages offer enterprises a cheap way in which to create their own online presence and creating a website is always an important step for any organisation. If the results of the survey are accurate on a wider scale, then thousands of UK businesses could benefit from comparing business broadband bundles, taking the plunge and catapulting their enterprise to the next level.”

Mobile broadband provider Orange has come out on top once more in a recent survey carried out by YouGov which compared all of the mobile broadband operators in the UK based on real user experiences.

YouGov, which is an independent organisation, compiled data relating to various key areas in mobile broadband and Orange came out at the top of 9 of these lists.

The survey revealed that customer satisfaction is one of Orange’s many strong points, along with the reliability of its mobile broadband connections. Orange was also top dog when it came to upload speeds, which few consider when comparing wireless broadband prices and its mobile broadband products are also deemed to be easier to use than some other providers.

The last YouGov survey of mobile broadband providers was published back in October 2009 and it also found that Orange was generally considered to be one of the best mobile broadband operators in the UK at the time.

Orange’s broadband’s Asif Aziz said that he and his firm were glad to have been voted to the top of the mobile broadband charts once more and that it was representative of the hard work that had been put into their products and deals.

Mr Aziz also said that Orange put its popularity down to the quality of its mobile broadband networks in combination with the high levels of customer service that it attempted to offer to all of its mobile broadband users.

Simple Broadband’s Simon Gerrard commented “Orange is leading the way in terms of customer service, spreading the good word about mobile broadband. Other providers may offer faster download speeds, but it is clear from this new survey that a significant proportion of customers are interested in quality and not quantity when comparing wireless broadband prices.”