The thousands of home-based workers operating in the UK could soon be keeping in touch with their colleagues through advanced videoconferencing technology, recent reports have suggested.

At present, videoconferencing equipment is being "slowly" implemented to boost business communications, but this kind of technology has not so far been seen as cost-effective for home-based workers, according to Tim Greene, writing for Computerworld.

However, Mr Greene is convinced that telecoms vendors are aiming to make videoconferencing a more affordable and effective way to communicate, which could see the practice become common among home-based workers.

"Customer interest in high-end telepresence gear is growing, but the number of units sold will be modest compared with the sales of other networking devices," writes Mr Greene, reflecting on the views of the president of the Telanetix company Rick Ono.

"For telecommuters to participate on par with others located in telepresence studios, the cost of bandwidth to their home offices will have to decrease and the quality of service will have to increase."

Research carried out on behalf of Dimensions Data recently showed that potential productivity gains are the main reason businesses enable their staff to work from home.