Investment opportunities: Communications industry

in the UK

Communications industry in the UK: investment opportunities

• The UK communications sector has about 8,000 companies who employ over 270,000 people. There are opportunities for investment in 2 main areas where there is high growth. These are: mobile, internet.

• Big communications projects in the UK are currently focused on infrastructure - the introduction of fibre-optic home broadband and the roll out of 4G and Long Term Evolution (LTE) mobile data communications.

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Communications industry in the UK: mobile device market

• The UK’s mobile market is the largest in Europe with a value of £14 billion annually and 80 million mobile subscribers. This means companies are always looking at new opportunities to use mobile technology.

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Communications industry in the UK: mobile payments

• The UK has the biggest mobile payment market in Europe as more consumers are using new non-cash payment methods when shopping.

• Mobile payments are also used in financial services such as mobile wallets, mobile banking and mobile money transfers making personal banking easier to access for customers.

• As it’s popularity grows, new opportunities for companies are developing in: creating secure networks, new software development, developing devices.

• By 2015 the value of transactions made through mobile devices could be €81.9 billion. This is due to Near Field Communication (NFC) applications, which is where smartphone mobile devices establish radio communication when they’re in contact, or close to each other.

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Communications industry in the UK: next generation network opportunities

• The UK wants to introduce the biggest broadband network in Europe by 2015. It’s a priority for the UK Government to improve the country’s broadband infrastructure.

• £530 million is allocated for introducing superfast broadband across the UK as part of the strategy on the future of Britain’s superfast broadband.

• Different technologies will be needed for the upgraded infrastructure covering fibre, existing copper, mobile and wireless.

• Superfast broadband will help Small Medium Enterprises (SMEs) grow and encourage businesses to look at e-commerce.

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Communications industry in the UK: 4G and Long Term Evolution (LTE)

• The move to digital TV in the UK means the 800 Megahertz (Mhz) spectrum is free to use for future mobile broadband services. This spectrum was sold in 2013 and 4G services are being introduced across the country with internet speeds up to 150 Mega bits per second (Mbps) downstream.

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Communications industry in the UK: Network security

• Secure networks are important for the security of the UK and other countries. The UK is a leader in providing secure communications and offers companies opportunities in a number of areas including in cyber security.

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Communications industry in the UK: Cloud computing

• Cloud computing is a growing market that will help the UK’s economy in the future. Sending data and delivering services securely and efficiently at low cost means big opportunities for businesses working on smart communication technologies.

• As more devices become connected to the Cloud, manufacturers of new devices will need to work with Cloud providers to ensure customers can connect to these types of services.

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Information Communications Technology (ICT) in the UK: investment opportunities

• The UK is one of the world’s largest information communications technology (ICT) markets. Overseas companies have an opportunity to secure a share of one of the biggest cloud and data centre markets in the world.

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Information Communications Technology (ICT) in the UK: Software development

• The UK develops software for many applications and international companies provide funding for research and development (R&D). Many software companies operate in the UK including Microsoft, IBM and HP.

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Information Communications Technology (ICT) in the UK: Mobile device market

• The UK’s mobile market is the largest in Europe with a value of £14 billion annually and 80 million mobile subscriptions. This means companies are always looking at new opportunities to use mobile technology and improve the experiences of consumers.

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Information Communications Technology (ICT) in the UK: Cloud computing

• The UK cloud computing market is predicted to reach £6.1 billion by 2014 (source: TechMarketView) and offers big investment opportunities for companies in the ICT sector.

• 18% of UK small medium enterprises (SMEs) use cloud and a further 30% plan to use them in the next 12 months. 81% of established cloud users in the UK plan to increase cloud usage over the next 2 years.

• Almost all software companies in the UK are using cloud. Opportunities exist in both the public and private sector for companies offering cloud or linked services.

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Information Communications Technology (ICT) in the UK: Public sector opportunities

• The UK government’s ICT strategy includes a strong focus on cloud technologies.

• The G-Cloud Programme is changing how the public sector buys and uses Information Technology (ICT). This means more opportunities for companies to access government contracts. It’s designed to support the purchase of cloud based services.

• By 2015 half of all new ICT spending by the UK government will be on public cloud services through the G-Cloud programme. This provides new opportunities for overseas companies looking to enter the market.

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Information Communications Technology (ICT) in the UK: Private sector opportunities

• The main reasons for businesses using cloud services in the UK are: flexibility in meeting business demands, quicker disaster recovery, automation of software updates, increased collaboration between employees, reduction of costs, low cost of using cloud services.

• Small and medium sized UK companies are adopting cloud into their businesses which often gives them an advantage against competitors.

• Opportunities exist across all the different models of cloud solutions, particularly the Software as a Service (SaaS) market, where applications are hosted by a vendor or service provider and made available to customers.

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Information Communications Technology (ICT) in the UK: Private sector opportunities

• Other areas include: email, storage and sharing services, unified communications (telephone, online chat), video-conferencing solutions.

• Many businesses are using software tools such as Salesforce automation and Customer Relationship Management (CRM) and these continue to grow in the UK market. Other related software in demand includes: marketing automation tools, social media management, email marketing, web analytics.

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