Small Business Broadband Study: Minimum Upstream Speed Should Be 4 Mbps

The economic benefits of broadband for businesses are “severely limited” unless the connection provides speeds of at least 4 Mbps upstream, according to new research from Strategic Networks Group. Yet more than 70 percent of small businesses (fewer than 50 employees) have less than 4 Mbps upstream speed, SNG noted.

In conducting its research, SNG developed something it calls a Digital Economy index (DEi) – an index of 17 potential “eSolutions” — online activities covering a wide range of business functions. A DEi score of 10 means that all eSolutions are used, with a score of zero meaning that none are used. Researchers found an average DEi score for small and medium size enterprises of 6.6. They also found that SMEs with the highest DEi scores generate 20 percent more of their total revenues from their online activities compared to the average SME. “In a nutshell, the more – and more effectively – you use broadband, the more financial benefits there are to be realized by businesses,” SNG wrote. “Higher utilization by SMEs increases direct revenues (and cost savings), which means greater and faster business growth, more jobs and flow through impacts to the local economy.” Importantly, the companies with upload speeds of 4 Mbps or higher had the highest DEi scores.