But sitting spellbound in front of YouTube and Facebook has blinded us to the real implications of this technology – and its power to transform our world totally.
It was Arthur C. Clarke who famously said that “when it comes to technology, most people over-estimate it in the short term, and under-estimate it in the long term.”
Thus the discovery of electricity transformed the urban environment by allowing the construction of tall buildings equipped with elevators; and the invention of the car moved populations out of city centres and into the suburbs.
Community services over broadband
In the case of broadband, a few far-sighted governments are now recognizing that the Internet will soon become the central delivery mechanism for just about every kind of community service.
- Medical imaging is forecast to account for over 30% of global data storage capacity by 2010.
- Online learning is bringing the outside world into the classroom in increasingly compelling ways.
- The arrival of the ‘Internet of Things’ is already driving up volumes of pure machine-to-machine data exchange, and researchers estimate that there are now well over 100 billion communication-enabled devices on the Net.
- Sensors and monitoring systems will help city authorities manage traffic flows, electricity distribution, and service delivery logistics, and respond to variables like weather.
The ICT industry has long talked about the benefits of delivering government services across a wide range of sectors. But without a clear vision from the top and a national digital deployment strategy, good ideas have fizzled out through literally hundreds of pilots and trials.
For industry and government to realize the enormous benefits of broadband, networks need to be rolled out on a truly national scale to all citizens, so that governments can begin to enjoy the enormous savings of online service delivery, and industry can reap the rewards that will make a real difference to their bottom line.