There is an increasing trend for owner-managers of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to work from home at least once a month, meaning they require mobile internet, an expert has remarked.

Jude Lynch, sales director for telecommunications provider O2 Ireland, made her comments to Silicon Republic, noting that although mobile internet facilities cannot supply the speed of a fixed line, it is a flexible option which can be attractive to SMEs.

However, this means both individuals and firms using such connection solutions have one main demand, she continued.

"Always-on connectivity is the key requirement: customers, whether they are businesses or consumers, need to be able to rely on the quality of the service they’ve signed up to," Ms Lynch explained.

Research recently published by analyst organisation Berg Insight predicts that by 2013 there will be 49 million notebooks in Europe with mobile broadband fitted.

It states that this increase in uptake will be driven by consumer demand for ubiquitous web access.

A recent Connect survey found that the two major concerns about outsourcing services like IT support were 'loss of control' (56 per cent) and 'budget over-runs' (43 per cent)