Vive la (4G) révolution

I’m not normally one for reminiscing. Looking back at the “good old days” is a far less appealing option than looking to the future and deciding what we can do next. But last Sunday it was the fourth anniversary of the UK’s first superfast 4G network, launched by EE on 30th October 2012. How time flies…!

I am asked about this quite a lot, as the process took up the best part of a couple of years of my working life (if you talk to my wife, she will tell you it also took up a fair bit of life outside work). In fact, I was being asked about it so often that I took some advice to write a book about it, which was published a couple of months ago.

One of the questions that came up during the publicity process was how exactly what we referred to as the “4G mobile revolution” has changed communication. It’s quite a claim to call something a revolution after all. However, in the right circumstances it’s entirely appropriate. Going back to the dictionary definition, one meaning for revolution is “A sudden complete or marked change in something” – and I would say that the advent of 4G mobile technology across the world marked such a change.

To remind ourselves why it was so revolutionary, we should first cast our minds back ten years or so. At that time, mobile services were really all about calls, texts and a little bit of web on the move. Third-generation, or 3G, mobile networks had been built for these services and, bar a few exceptions, further investment was sporadic, or lacking.

Meanwhile, the world was changing. The Internet had been with us for twenty years, and the smartphone market really started to boom in 2007, catapulting “anytime, anywhere” online access (and expectations) into people’s pockets.

The existing 3G infrastructure just hadn’t been set up to cater for the surge in data traffic that resulted. If you think back, I’m sure you can remember the days of waiting on tenterhooks for an email to send, or looking at a flickering screen as you waited for a webpage to load on your phone. As for watching video on the go? Forget it.

These are some of the things that the advent of 4G changed.

Right from day one of EE’s pioneering 4G service, we paid close attention to what was happening on the new network and started to review the findings. Within a year of its launch, there was a rapid rise in the use of social media over the network. In the six months leading up to December 2013 it rose from 13% to 18% of the overall 4G traffic.

At the same time we surveyed customers and found that those set to do their Christmas shopping via mobile had nearly tripled. 57% of our customers were accessing the Internet via mobile for more than one hour every day, with 21% spending more than three hours.

Later reports showed a sharp hike in the amount of time customers were spending streaming music, TV programmes and movies on the go – and a reduction in the amount of time they were spending connected to their home broadband supply. New connected devices – like cameras and in-car Wi-Fi – started to take off. And so it goes on.

Quite simply, the availability of 4G connectivity changed people’s daily habits; they now do more online, on the move, because they can.

However, if there is one thing that has really evolved beyond recognition since 4G arrived with us, it is the way that organisations work. At the end of last year, EE was able to demonstrate the significant impact of enhanced connectivity on British businesses, including its most vital public services: reducing missed and unnecessary appointments in the NHS, saving time and many hundreds of millions of pounds; the ability for public housing providers to get connected on site within days instead of waiting for a broadband connection, and build homes more quickly and cost-effectively; and saving thousands of hours of staff time across the country’s police forces.

At the same time, research the company released with the Centre for Economic & Business Research (CEBR) and YouGov estimated that the efficiency and productivity gains made from 4G would give an ￡8.9 billion boost to UK Plc in 2015, and continue to rise each year.

My experience was of course gained in the UK market, but if you were to dig into the impact of 4G across other geographies, my bet is that you would find many similar stories.

That’s why I say that the launch of 4G was a revolution. It really did pioneer a sudden, complete and marked change, kick-starting a new communications age. It was fantastic to be a part of it. So, happy birthday to EE. Let’s raise a glass to 4G, and think ahead to what will be possible when 5G arrives…

Photo credit: Eric Fischer