BT’s recent move to target the small office/home office (SOHO) market segment is the latest in a string of similar moves by service providers in both Europe and the Americas highlighting the small business market as a key growth target. This trend has emerged as enterprises priorities and ways of doing business have changed in the wake of the global pandemic, says GlobalData, a leading data and analytics company.

Gary Barton, Principal Analyst on the Enterprise Technology and Services team at GlobalData comments: “COVID-19 has created many challenges for businesses, as traditional ways of doing business have been severely restricted. However, it has also created a new entrepreneurial spirit with many thousands of new, digitally-native businesses being founded – and it is these companies that telecoms service providers are targeting.

“These businesses are heavily reliant on internet connectivity either to their homes or to small offices. They, therefore, represent a critical mass-market of people/companies looking for premium-quality wireline and mobile internet access services”

Barton observes that these customers are significant for telecoms service providers desperate to monetize their investment in 5G and fiber broadband rollouts.

Barton comments: “Creating clear use cases for fiber-to-the-premises (FTTP) -particularly 5G – is mission critical for telcos. Selling FTTP and 5G as a way to guarantee that your business stays online, and that core applications and video services will operate smoothly, is an ideal way to showcase the advantages of these next-generation internet access services.

“GlobalData’s research has highlighted that these smaller companies are increasingly aware of the need to access advanced digital services. Telcos want to become digital partners of choice to SOHOs.”