CCS Insight’s latest Employee Workplace Technology Survey shows how connectivity problems remain a significant barrier to productivity for companies of many sizes. According to the research, which was conducted with more than 600 employees in the US and Europe in September 2024, leading frustrations are slow or unreliable networks and poor mobile signal or coverage.
The findings also reveal an increasingly mobile and hybrid workforce; two-thirds of people use a combination of office and home working, and 58% travel domestically at least twice a month.
Addressing these challenges and finding solutions to new working practices has been a focus for Three UK’s Business unit, which this week reached the milestone of 1 million active customers for its mobile and fixed wireless access offers. It’s an impressive achievement coming less than five years after the operator appointed the experienced Mike Tomlinson to spearhead a fresh push into the enterprise market.
It hasn’t always been plain sailing for Three in the UK; negative perceptions of its network have long stifled its progress. This has been particularly true in enterprise, where more-discerning customers place greater emphasis on quality and reliability of service.
The Three Business strategy is centred on offering fast, secure and reliable connectivity at lower prices and with enhanced support. It looks to tackle common customer frustrations that may have been overlooked or not fully addressed by rival providers.
In addition to this fresh approach to serving business customers, Three is reaping the benefits of improvements to its network, supported by its enviable holding of 100 MHz of contiguous mid-band 5G spectrum. Since launching 5G, Three has consistently won “fastest network” accolades from third-party testing companies such as Opensignal and Ookla.
According to the operator, 5G outdoor coverage now extends to 685 towns and cities, representing 64% of the UK population, backed by 5,315 sites and some 19,000 masts. And through a partnership with Ericsson, it claims Europe’s largest cloud-native core, which has tripled its capacity to 9 Tbps, managed from 19 data centres distributed across the UK. This supports the company’s claim to carry over a third of all mobile data traffic in the UK, more than twice the national average.
It all forms a part of a £2 billion investment programme to transform Three’s network and IT infrastructure, first unveiled in 2020 and including partnerships with leading technology companies.
Beyond its well-known mobile offers, Three’s fixed wireless service is also enjoying momentum, positioned as a flexible and lower-cost alternative to traditional broadband offers. This aligns with growing confidence in hybrid working practices revealed in our survey: two-thirds of employees told us they now have a dedicated office space at home, compared with 49% a year ago. Fixed wireless access can also support a range of pop-up shops, events and remote worksites that don’t have access to fibre or aren’t prepared to wait.
Reaching 1 million business customers is a commendable achievement that reflects Three’s fresh outlook to serving business customers, alongside continued improvements to its network. Both efforts align well with companies’ evolving connectivity needs as highlighted in CCS Insight’s research.
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