Mobile Network Comparison

EE’s first survey into how customers use 4G mobile internet has revealed a large surge in the use of video streaming as well as uploads from phones. The incredibly unsurprising news from the 4GEE Mobile Living Index shows that customers on faster 4G connections use more bandwidth on video streaming than they did when on the older 3G standard.

The research uses customer surveys as well as a statistical analysis of traffic patterns and packet content to provide an insight into how 4G is being used in the UK. Specifically, the 4GEE Mobile Living Index looked at data from the first seven months of the operation of the 4G service as well as responses from 1,000 4G users in May.

Even less surprisingly, EE’s report shows that mobile data usage peaks at certain times such as during the morning and afternoon commute and even with sneaky lunch break usage. Of course, the heaviest time for internet use is in the evening after work.

Also pretty obvious is the revelation that users with large-screened devices stream the most video. More interestingly, more women have taken up 4G contracts over the last few months with their representation rising to over 40% from just over a quarter when 4G first launched.

In particular, streaming through services such as iPlayer and Netflix as well as other ways of downloading and uploading videos accounted for over 25% of all traffic on EE’s 4G network. TV and film streaming in particular has seen a significant increase as YouTube now only accounts for 14% of data usage. And major sports and culture events such as Wimbledon also result in large bumps in traffic on the network.

As far as reports from customers went, over 50% surveyed reported that they make use of the faster internet access more than they did when on a 3G connection. They also said that they no longer rely on wifi connections as frequently. Some even are replacing their home broadband entirely with mobile 4G access despite the strict bandwidth limits.

Perhaps because of these limits, it shouldn’t be so surprising that basic web browsing still uses up a large proportion of EE’s 4G traffic. People may still be somewhat reluctant to make full use of the high speed access to streamed content due to the rate at which it can use up their allowance. As an example of this, social media use on mobile is growing at a massive rate and is expected to massively rise by an order of magnitude over the next two years.

Backing this up, Ofcom’s latest Communications Market Report claimed that most customers do not think that 4G offers good value for money. It remains to be seen how competition from other networks offering 4G services will affect things, but almost half said that they are not planning to upgrade to 4G LTE due to the data charges.

O₂ and Vodafone plan to launch their rival 4G services imminently. And Three Mobile will surely follow soon after that.

Do you have a 4G connection on your mobile? Do you regularly stream video content? How are you using your phone differently compared to with only 3G internet?

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Leaked photos of the shell of the new iPhone 5S strongly suggest that it will feature a fingerprint scanner. Sources have revealed what is said to be shell of a new upgraded version of the iPhone, expected to be named the iPhone 5S. The placement of new holes that didn’t exist in the regular iPhone 5 shell are said to indicate the addition of a fingerprint scanner in Apple’s next flagship model.

The rumours are further supported by Apple’s acquisition of mobile security firm AuthenTec over a year ago. AuthenTec have been running for over 15 years now and specialise in tiny fingerprint sensors that can be embedding into micro-electronics. Apple forked out over £225 million on buying out the Florida-based company putting their value at an value 60% higher than before the sale.

After spending such a substantial sum, it now make perfect sense for Apple to use the IP that comes with AuthenTec to integrate their technology into future iOS devices. In particularly Apple will be eyeing up the lucrative government contracts traditionally won by BlackBerry. As BlackBerry struggles more and more and its new BB10 software update seems increasingly-doomed to failure, there is a gap in the market opening up that Apple will be keen to move into. Beefing up the security on iPhones will be particularly important if it wants to become the new provider to national security services.

Apple is also clearly hoping that fingerprint scanners will be come the latest must-have smartphone feature. Writing on TechRadar, Gareth Beavis argues that biometric fingerprint scanners will “change the world again”.

However, even if the iPhone 5S does have this new feature, we don’t see it being such a big shake up. First of all, it’s not exactly a new idea. Many laptops have had similar sensors for years and years. While its true that Apple has a good track record of transforming old ideas and making them ready for the prime time (viz. tablet computers), we can’t see this being much more than a new gimmick.

Beavis claims that this ushers in a “moment that heralds a shift in the way we use phones forever” but offers no real evidence other than unlocking your phone with a fingerprint is easier than swiping a pattern or using a 4-digit PIN. Unfortunately, he wildly overestimates the robustness of this as a security feature. Sure, unlocking with a fingerprint might be faster than other methods, but it would be naïve to say that current technology makes it much more secure.

After all, the original iPhone and iPhone 3G didn’t even have hardware encryption and software such as the iOS Forensic Toolkit can perform relatively fast brute-force attacks on other versions of the iPhone. Even if Apple doesn’t have a backdoor to decrypt the content of iPhones, the general consensus is that it’s doable to break the security if you really want/need to.

It could prove to be useful for mobile payments. It could certainly be one of those Apple moments when they take something that has existed for ages but never quite caught on and get it right leading to everyone else following suit to remain competitive. We just don’t see it. Apple CEO Tim Cook is already being heavily criticised for the recent lack of innovation at Cupertino and this could be more of a desperate attempt to prove himself to broad members.

So what else do we know about the new iPhone? Other rumoured features on the iPhone 5S include a new low-power high-res screen from Sharp, a better camera with dual flash, NFC and, finally, modern OS features such as homescreen widgets (nah, only kidding about that last one but you do get different colours, yay ;)). There will probably also be a cheaper model called the iPhone 5C.

The new iPhone 5S is rumoured to be coming out some time in September. Apple have already announced a large media event on the 10th September where the full details about the new iPhone models are expected to be revealed.

What do you think about the rumours so far? Is a fingerprint scanner definitely going to be a new feature? Will it ever be more than just a gimmick? And what’s your bet for the release date of the new iPhones?

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An ongoing investigation spearheaded by the Guardian newspaper has revealed the true extent to which the UK’s mobile networks are avoiding their tax liabilities. Despite paying out billions of pounds in dividends to shareholders, the main mobile providers are managing, in some cases, to not pay any corporation tax whatsoever.

The news comes right after Justin King was attacked for doing business with serial tax avoiders Vodafone. The loophole the companies are taking advantage of is based upon tax breaks offered by the government on the purchase of new infrastructure hardware and radio spectrum such as the recent 4G auction.

Formed by the merger of Orange and T-Mobile, EE (or Everything Everywhere) is by far the country’s largest mobile operator. It will therefore come as little surprise that it’s also one of the biggest crooks when it comes to not paying tax.

This massive company is joined owned by German and French telecoms companies and has over 25 million UK customers as well as untold millions in the bank. EE aims to use up nine tenths of its cash flow paying future dividends. So far it has spent over £3 billion on paying shareholders which is a massive 40% more than the current budget for all A&E hospitals on the NHS.

Even though Chancellor George Osborne has already cut corporation tax from 24% to 20% which is the lowest of any global economy, mobile networks can claim back tax credit for a quarter of their outgoings on many items. Professor Sikka who specialises in tax accounting said the following:

“The telecoms industry shows the folly of the current corporate tax regime, which allows companies to structure their affairs in ways that add no economic value but reduce their tax bills.”

And it’s not just EE getting away with this. Three Mobile has paid less than £1 million in tax over the last three years. It is owned by Asian company Hutchison Whampoa and has erected incredibly complicated financial structures constructions in order to maximise its British tax assets so that historical losses can be used to cancel out future tax bills. This is currently perfectly legal for mobile networks but not for us if, for example, we wanted tax credits for taking out a loan or mortgage.

Vodafone is another example of a UK mobile network that has complex arrangements allowing it to avoid paying tax. For example, a series of purposely-uncompetitive loans to other related companies will allow it to save over £3 billion on the amount it recently spent on 4G spectrum.

O₂ currently pays the most tax of any of the big four networks. Its tax bill between 2009 and 2011 was well over £600 million according to its accounts. Because it owns less 3G spectrum it has less to offset against its earnings and O₂ expects to continue paying large amounts of corporation tax in the near future.

Despite this, O₂ has paid about £2.5 billion back in dividends to its owner Telefónica which is more than three and a half times its tax bill over the same timeframe.

Recent reports suggest that, MPs such as Labour’s Margaret Hodge and Parliament as a whole will aim to crack down on these practices though, the effectiveness of such actions remains to be seen. Hodge has accused the government of simply giving away taxpayers’ money.

At the moment the situation is dire – UK network operators have made almost £60 billion in revenue over the last three years with over £10 billion of that being clear profits. Despite this, some operators haven’t paid a penny in tax over the same period.

What do you make of this news? Is it fair that mobile networks can make such large sums of money but give back such a small amount in tax bills? Is anything going to happen about it or will the coalition continue to let them get away with it? What’s your take on the whole situation?

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