The Free Wi-Fi Scandal

82% of Brits would be more likely to visit local businesses if free Wi-Fi was offered

• Average small business profit is £13,000
• Yet, major providers charge hundreds for customer Wi-Fi
• More has to be done to support small business

October 2017

The average profit of SMEs is £13,000, the main telecom providers charge around £1,000 to install the hardware and software necessary to offer free customer Wi-Fi at their premises, and between £30-£50 a month to run it.

Research from XLN shows that 82% of Brits would be more likely to visit local businesses if free Wi-Fi was offered, additionally, the average time customers are spending using their service while shopping in small businesses is up 32% in the last 6 months. This equates to 25 million minutes spent with independent high street businesses, not corporate chains.

Christian Nellemann, Founder of XLN is furious about the state of affairs small businesses face. When researching the launch of their customer Wi-Fi service it was a “very fast decision” that the service must be free – Free to the businesses and free for the businesses customers, even if the cost is a loss to XLN.
“It’s always been our ambition to do more than simply save small businesses money. We want to help them grow too – and XLN Wi-Fi is testament to that, how can you expect a small business to have the thousands required to offer something to their customers which is shown to be near essential to survive?” comments Christian.

Darshan Sharma runs The Comfort Hotel in Leicester and have already seen the benefits to their customers and business.
"Good public WiFi means good reviews - and that's what brings more customers in"

Jamaranian, who runs Bijou sandwich shop in Camberley added "When people see the XLN sticker, they come in and ask if we have free WiFi. That brings them in the store and gives me the chance to turn them into customers."

Christian remains determined to help the high street; “We want a vibrant high street and a strong economy, what the Government and major suppliers fail to realise is that small business is at the centre of these things”.

Christian has launched 5-point manifesto which aims to urge the government to address the things which are most detrimental to small business, it can be viewed here

-ENDS-

For additional comment and for imagery to accompany this release please contact Danielle on danielle@kincomms.com or Lewis Gunn on lewis.gunn@kincomms.com or call +44(0)207 7179696
You can also request a copy of the Full manifesto via the contact details above.
More information available here

Notes to Editors:

About XLN:
XLN supplies low-cost phone, broadband, card processing, gas and electricity exclusively to small businesses all over the UK. Founded by Christian Nellemann in 2002, it’s helped more than 250,000 small businesses to save on their utility bills. More recently, XLN has added public Wi-Fi to its portfolio, which has revolutionised small business access to this valuable product; it already has more than 20,000 hotspots.