Three's new 5G broadband service will be critically important in supporting the new hybrid working models which will likely be the norm in the aftermath of the Covid-19 pandemic. "It's been nine months since Covid-19 hit us in Ireland and we were all asked to work at home for the foreseeable future," notes Three head of product, propositions and operations Ciara O'Reilly. "Most people thought it would be short-term. Most of us have a desire for things not to change too much. But an awful lot of people are working 100 per cent from home and there has been quite a bit of decentralisation of workplaces. People are now re-evaluating their lives as a result. They find they like working in their home county and not having to commute."
Businesses too have had to change. “Bricks-and-mortar retailers had to try to move online for the first time. They also had to reorganise their workforce to work from home. There was a lot going on. It was a big shift. All of that has had a catalysing effect on the work-at-home model. People have seen that it works. It has proved itself beyond doubt. Some of us may have always known it works but others needed to be convinced. But we were lucky. We had collaboration tools like Zoom and Teams. We may have struggled five years ago without them.”
The net result has been a reassessment of workforce organisation. “Companies are now looking at a hybrid model,” says O’Reilly. “It might be week on, week off or people just coming in occasionally for catch-up days. Some said it would never happen, but it’s happening already, and we are seeing our customers looking at it.”
But it can’t happen without the right connectivity. “You need really good broadband for it,” she points out. “Not just internet access or email. High-capacity, reliable broadband is essential, and you need it everywhere. You need that wherever you work, whether that’s in your home office, in the barn out the back, or in the coffee shop.”
E-commerce functionality
This has highlighted disparities in Ireland’s broadband coverage. “Covid-19 has exposed how disadvantaged rural Ireland is in this respect. Even when people are able to connect on Teams, they are not able to share work documents because their broadband is not good enough. If you’re a retailer, it’s not just about having a website, you need e-commerce functionality, and this is also reliant on good broadband.”
In the most recent ComReg survey in September 2020, about half of the respondents said they would be willing to spend more on broadband to get a better service. “This indicates that the Covid experience is having an impact with increased reliance on broadband. It’s a basic requirement for running a business. And it can be a game-changer for many businesses. It enables more creativity and collaboration. You can use it to share and co-create and try out and test new ideas online.”
Three is now bringing that level of connectivity to businesses and personal customers throughout Ireland. “That’s crucial to what we do,” says O’Reilly. “We enabled better-connected lives and better-connected business. We’ve just launched Three Broadband 5G. We are the only operator doing it.”
According to independent surveys Three has the largest 5G network in the country, she adds. “5G offers you phenomenal download speeds of up to 10 times faster than 4G. In the home that means revolutionising the speed and quality of your connection. It also means you can work more productively on the go and share any size of documents, files or videos.”
Speeds you need
Three is offering two solutions, a self-install internal solution and an external option. “The self-install option is completely plug-and-play,” she explains. “It’s perfect for customers with good 5G coverage. You can connect up to 128 devices with the service so it’s not just for homes, it can be used for offices or remote working hubs. The signal is omni-directional, so it is very easy to set up the wifi in the office or home. Just get the box and put in the Three 5G sim card. We were seeing a lot of interest in the service even before we launched. It offers speeds similar to fixed broadband in many cases. We do a prequalification test to ensure customers get the speeds they need.”
The external solution is for areas where coverage may not be so good. “The reality in rural areas is that you are not going to get good coverage indoors in many areas,” she notes. “In these cases, we install a small antenna outside the home or premises. The installation engineer positions the antenna to get the best possible speed. We take the outside coverage and bring it inside. There’s a real benefit for people in rural locations there. It’s all very straightforward. Customers get best-in-class technology and faster speeds equivalent to fixed lines. It’s a game-changer – they don’t need fixed-line broadband anymore. For some customers, it completely transforms what they do.”
The service is available in every county in the country. “When we started to roll out the 5G mobile network, we did an awful lot very quickly and we are continuing to roll it out all the time. Covid-19 forced digital adoption somewhat, but remote working will remain the norm. Good-quality broadband is essential for that, you can’t work from home properly without it. Businesses have got through the survival part and they can now start growing again. The disruption that has come with Covid-19 has created new opportunities and Three Broadband 5G will enable businesses to take advantage of them.”