Broadband expansion
Name
Broadband expansion
Enablers
The development of IPTV and other Internet-based methods of delivery is driven by the increasingly widespread availability and maturity of broadband. On the global stage, broadband is a major driving force behind the growing round of mergers and acquisitions among TMT (technology-media-telecom) companies. The days when services were delivered via specific devices - TV, radio, telephone - are almost gone. An age is dawning when multimedia services will be available via a range of devices, such as PCs, mobile phones and digital TVs.
Inhibitors
Paradigms
It is not difficult to see the advantages: The European Commission considers wide broadband coverage across Europe as crucial for fostering growth and jobs. All EU instruments - telecoms legislation, structural and rural policy instruments - therefore need to be mobilised, in full respect of state aid rules, in a joint drive to bring broadband internet access to all Europeans, particularly in less-developed areas. This is the conclusion of “Bridging the Broadband Gap”, a European Commission Communication presented on 21 March jointly by the European Commissioners for Information Society and Media, Competition, Regional Policy and Agriculture and Rural Development. Therefore one thing is for sure - no one yet knows exactly where this broadband boom is going to take us. But corporate heavyweights all around the world are agreed that it is the future.
Experts
AOL