Half of households 'not interested ' in upgrading to 5G - EY survey

More than half, 53 per cent, of UK households are not interested in upgrading to 5G, a new EY survey has revealed.

According to the survey, consumer interest in 5G remains low, despite being commercially available in all markets surveyed.

While seven per cent of UK households already have 5G connectivity, only 18 per cent say they are interested in upgrading; 53 per cent are not interested; and 19 per cent remain indifferent. When considering the rationale for upgrading, reliable connectivity emerges as the leading driver (29 per cent) - far exceeding interest in better video streaming (17 per cent) and gaming (just six per cent).

Consumers also expressed in the survey, their thoughts on broadband connections.

Fifty-eight per cent of UK households believe broadband reliability is more important than speed, and nearly half, 47 per cent, don 't think upgrading to higher speed packages is worth the cost.

Meanwhile, 29 per cent say they don 't understand what broadband speed means in practice.

Notably, although rural users have been less likely to report a reduction in network quality, there is latent demand that service connectivity providers are failing to tap.

Fifty-two percent of rural users are frustrated that the fastest speeds are not available in their area, and only 52 per cent believe they are getting value for money from their current broadband package, compared with 67 per cent of dense urban and 61 per cent of urban households respectively.

Praveen Shankar (pictured), EY UK and Ireland head of Technology, Media and Telecommunications (TMT), said: “Since the start of the pandemic, networks have coped well with the surge in home internet needs, but too many UK households have experienced performance issues. People want a better reliability guarantee and operators must improve how they communicate that and maximise the role they can play in the post-pandemic household in order to thrive in the future.

“Connectivity providers need to re-assess their value propositions and improve service adjustment experiences to meet customers ' real-world demands and accelerate uptake. Prioritising privacy and security features as part of broadband packages will help them make the most of critical customer needs. ”