The Broadband Millennium: Communication Technologies and Markets

Broadband communication is one of the strategic assets of modern societies. The installation of powerful new information and communication technologies (ICTs) within reach of local users is for the first time giving individuals, groups, and nations the means to shape their own social and economic destinies. In the old days, when media and telecommunications were mostly one-way, narrowband services, what transpired within the local space was under control of the providers. In the new millennium, the nature of the relationship between customers and vendors is being substantially reversed. User-friendly ICTs are turning passive consumers into producers, sellers, and distributors in their own right. Local users in homes, schools, shops, and offices now have the means to establish their own businesses and share their own products, services, and ideas, partnering with others wherever they are, whenever they like, and without asking anyone's permission. The "big issue" transformations that will set the agenda for media and communication players, for governments and businesses, and for citizens everywhere are examined in The Broadband Millennium: Communication Technologies and Markets. Industry by industry—from the perspective of telephony, cable, wireless, satellite, broadcasting, Internet and home/office—the forces of history, technology, economy, and regulation are laid out for those wishing to give serious thought to the positive and negative implications for societies that will be forever changed. The focus of The Broadband Millennium is on future markets for broadband products and services, as well as the infrastructure under development that is intended to make those markets more readily attainable and manageable. But The Broadband Millennium also takes on a more ambitious agenda. Its analysis shows how advanced technologies are facilitating the transition to a new world information and economic order in which much larger percentages of end users have a greater chance of getting what they want. The established order is being undermined. Providers of communication, entertainment media, and consumer goods are in a struggle to emerge lean and competitive from the economic downturns of the new millennium. All of them now know that they must find innovative ways to keep their customers happy. While there is much for individuals, families, and governments to worry about in the new digital economy—loss of jobs, retraining, privacy, and security, for example—the trend favors the end user, especially those users who are alert and stay informed. The Broadband Millennium is a must-read, in-depth exploration of the potential of broadband communication—now and in the future.