Latest news with #VirginMediaO2Business
Yahoo
02-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Almost half of Britons expect to spend less over next three months, figures show
Almost half of Britons expect to spend less over the next three months as retailers already face significant falls in visitor numbers compared with a year ago, figures show. Some 45% of consumers say they expect to spend less and 41% are 'actively' looking for ways to cut unnecessary spending, according to the latest Movers Index from Virgin Media O2 Business. There has been an 8% year-on-year drop in retail visits for the first three months of the year, the index, which combines anonymous UK movement data from O2 Motion with survey findings, shows. Nearly half of consumers (46%) have cancelled at least one subscription, rising to 80% of those aged 18 to 24, the figures show. Meanwhile, office attendance has continued to climb in the first months of this year, with more than half of British employees (52%) going in more frequently. Mobile data shows the first few months of the year were marked by a 5% increase in commuting trips, and a 1% increase from the same time last year. Wednesday remains the most popular day of the week to go to the office, while 38% of workers now commute five days a week. Most workers (65%) view return-to-office mandates positively, helped by a boost in perks and workplace culture. Workers are also planning to make the most of their return to the office, with 77% planning to shop in-store after work at least once a week, and 66% planning to catch up with friends and family, according to the findings. Jessica O'Connor, director of product at Virgin Media O2 Business, said: 'The latest Virgin Media O2 Business Movers Index shows a first glimpse into key trends shaping 2025 – office life is continuing to make a comeback and retail is adapting for resilience. 'With half of workers commuting more often and full-time office mandates rising, O2 Motion data indicates a shift in how people use city spaces.' Strand Partners surveyed 2,002 UK adults and 2,004 businesses between March 28 and 31. Sign in to access your portfolio
ITV News
28-04-2025
- Business
- ITV News
Almost half of Britons expect to spend less over next three months, figures show
Almost half of Britons expect to spend less over the next three months as retailers already face significant falls in visitor numbers compared with a year ago, figures show. Some 45% of consumers say they expect to spend less and 41% are 'actively' looking for ways to cut unnecessary spending, according to the latest Movers Index from Virgin Media O2 Business. There has been an 8% year-on-year drop in retail visits for the first three months of the year, the index, which combines anonymous UK movement data from O2 Motion with survey findings, shows. Nearly half of consumers (46%) have cancelled at least one subscription, rising to 80% of those aged 18 to 24, the figures show. Meanwhile, office attendance has continued to climb in the first months of this year, with more than half of British employees (52%) going in more frequently. Mobile data shows the first few months of the year were marked by a 5% increase in commuting trips, and a 1% increase from the same time last year. Wednesday remains the most popular day of the week to go to the office, while 38% of workers now commute five days a week. Most workers (65%) view return-to-office mandates positively, helped by a boost in perks and workplace culture. Workers are also planning to make the most of their return to the office, with 77% planning to shop in-store after work at least once a week, and 66% planning to catch up with friends and family, according to the findings. Jessica O'Connor, director of product at Virgin Media O2 Business, said: 'The latest Virgin Media O2 Business Movers Index shows a first glimpse into key trends shaping 2025 – office life is continuing to make a comeback and retail is adapting for resilience. 'With half of workers commuting more often and full-time office mandates rising, O2 Motion data indicates a shift in how people use city spaces.' Strand Partners surveyed 2,002 UK adults and 2,004 businesses between March 28 and 31.
Business News Wales
24-04-2025
- Business
- Business News Wales
University Sites Connected by Dark Fibre Network
Virgin Media O2 Business has completed building a dark fibre network loop across eight university sites in Swansea, the Swansea Bay City Deal's Digital Infrastructure Programme has announced. Dark fibre networks offer practically limitless capacity and speeds, with the innovative loop configuration ensuring a continuous data flow between educational sites. This will benefit research, teaching and collaboration across the academic landscape. The network, which is only accessible to linked sites, will also provide secure, high-speed, and scalable connectivity, improving the efficiency of internal systems while providing increased capacity to increase to suit the demands of the sector. The network will immediately increase bandwidth to 40Gbps, with the potential for 100Gbps between campuses in the future. This means all Swansea campuses are now connected at exceptionally high speeds that are usually only available at a single campus location, with future proofing for even higher speeds helping create a parity of experience for students across SA1 in both the short and long term. This will enable high-flex teaching, ultra high-quality video streaming and immersive learning environments, while also supporting future research as well as smart campus solutions to enhance efficiency and sustainability. The deployment of this infrastructure means that in the event of network disruption, traffic can be instantly rerouted, maintaining reliable connectivity and ensuring uninterrupted academic activity. James Cale, of the University of Wales Trinity Saint David, said: 'This is an exciting phase where we will now start to tangibly see the benefits of a dark fibre network across campuses. The ability to fully exploit technology within a class or research environment offers both academics and students a far wider range of opportunities, whilst making our sites more data secure. This is something that is widely needed to future proof further education in this region.' This project realises the Digital Infrastructure Programme's ambition of ensuring public sector bodies have access to the best possible technological resources. It opens up limitless opportunities for collaboration between institutions and accelerates the pace of technological innovation across public sector services. Cllr Rob Stewart, Leader of Swansea Council and Chair of the Swansea Bay City Deal Joint Committee, said: 'This is a fantastic milestone in the region's plan to adopt emerging technology into our public sector services. Creating more robust ways of collaborating, data sharing and ways of researching is a fundamental aspect of how we build best practices across our education and healthcare sites. This will open up more innovation opportunities in the future.' The new network, which will be fully available by December 2025, will offer significantly improved capacity and speed, and will allow large amounts of data to be securely shared and saved. On completion, the dedicated dark fibre network will connect 36 public sector sites throughout Swansea and Neath Port Talbot, including local authorities, healthcare and education partners.
The Independent
27-01-2025
- Business
- The Independent
Weekend high street visits down 5% despite shoppers' best intentions
Weekend high street visits fell by 5% last year despite shoppers saying they want to support local businesses, mobile data shows. Despite consumers claiming to be willing to pay an extra 23% more to support local businesses, nearly one in four (23%) admit to shopping less frequently on their high street last year, according to the latest Movers Index from Virgin Media O2 Business. This is reflected in the numbers of weekend trips to high street and shopping centre areas which fell by 5% and 9% respectively between 2023 to 2024, the index, which combines anonymous UK movement data from O2 Motion with survey findings, shows. The largest falls were in the summer months, with a 4% drop in December. Store closures surged by 28%, with 63% of Britons expressing worries about further closures. Compounding this, more than half of retailers (53%) reported a noticeable decline in shoppers spending time in-store, and 40% noted reduced spending. Just over a third of consumers (34%) said they aimed to cut down on overspending on non-essential items, and 33% planned to reduce impulse buying. The data also shows that 2024 saw a further shift in hybrid working policies, with 88% of workers subject to compulsory office attendance. As a result, more than three quarters of employees (76%) began commuting at least three days a week, and 39% commuted to the office five days a week. Almost three quarters of those polled (74%) said they felt feel positive about mandatory office attendance policies. Diego Tedesco, director of commercial, product and marketing at Virgin Media O2 Business, said: 'Our full-year Virgin Media O2 Business Movers Index shows a disconnect between shoppers' intentions and actions. 'Despite ambitions from many to shop locally, budgets remained tight and high street visits saw a sharp decline as a third (37%) shopped more online.' Strand Partners surveyed 2,010 UK adults and 2,011 businesses between December 24-31.
