Is this a feeling of D’j’ vu? Alcatel-Lucent has commissioned research pretty much trying to PROVE what readers of Faultline must all FEEL already, which is that broadband is counter recessionary, or at least resilient against recessionary factors.
The way the write up for the research states it, consumers would rather cut out dining out and holidays before they will consider living without broadband.
The study was conducted with market research firms Penn, Schoen & Berland as well as Ipsos MediaCT using employed statistical analysis to determine how consumers prioritize household spending, given a recessionary mindset, comparing the relative value of a wide variety of specific fee-based services.
It comes out and says that broadband services appear to be nearly recession-proof, with 84% thinking of its as an essential network service, as much as a phone connection, so it is the least likely target for spending cuts. The study also showed that new subscribers were still considering buying broadband for the first time even though there was a recession on. Given that Alcatel-Lucent is one of the world’s biggest suppliers of broadband infrastructure you can see why it was happy to shell out for such a report, one that is sure to influence the way shareholders feel about the company.
In the report, emerging countries were far more optimistic about the overall global economy than more developed countries, and although they are still cutting household expenditure, 85% of emerging country consumers reckon their household economic situation will be the same or better a year from now ‘ far higher than in developed nations.
Alcatel gave out little detail form the report, perhaps it plans to use the material over the coming weeks, but said that one factor driving broadband was people working at home in order to cut the cost and time associated with commuting. People also thought that home working was greener.