Press & PR

Workers with faster broadband connections at home may have a higher productivity level, it has been suggested.

Michael Phillips, product director at Broadband Choices, said that the upload speed of connections offered by internet service providers can affect working efficiency by up to 20 per cent.

He called for ever faster broadband connections in the UK and highlighted the speeds enjoyed by consumers and businesses in France, Japan and South Korea as being much higher than those available in Britain.

Calling for an upgrade to fibre optic lines, Mr Phillips said: "My argument is that if we can spend £15 billion on a cross-London train link, I think this has to be more important for the British economy than building Crossrail.

"I understand Britain is part of the international economy but if Britain wants economic development in all parts of the UK, not just London, we need to spend the money on building a next generation network, with carbon fibre technology."

However, he admitted that it would not be easy to upgrade the network and called for the government to take the lead in addressing this "enormous" challenge.


Remote working has experienced a boom in popularity this year as broadband connection speeds have improved enough to make internet voice calls a reality.

This has allowed businesses to let their employees to work from home – saving money on phone bills though web-based telephony on offer from Vonage, with unlimited UK and Ireland calls costing just £5.99 a month.