Broadband as “essential as electricity” in 10 years: futurist
Broadband will be as essential as electricity in 10 years time, according to futurist Mike Walsh who says Australia lags the rest of the world with the 10 year time frame put on the National Broadband Network
Walsh who is the author ofFuturetainment and CEO of Hong Kong based innovation research agency Tomorrow, likens the National Broadband Network to electricity in that it is an essential utility required to function in today’s Australia.
“Broadband is the 21st century equivalent of electricity; all the advanced markets in the world already have it thanks to a combination of business and government efforts; Scandinavia, Korea, China,”
“Research shows there is a clear correlation between innovation in business and fast broadband,” he says.
Walsh believes a National Broadband Network is vital for entertainment, gaming, and enterprise to flourish in Australia. In enterprise, for example, this could mean in the medical field, where imaging and patient X Rays can be delivered from regional and remote areas via broadband, an area Senator Conroy was quick to point to in his public utterances about the National Broadband Network.
“For advertisers, this means it is no longer enough to buy a TV or billboard ad. Advertisers now need to convince an audience to engage with their brand online, and have people forward it to their friends -because the only way you can get a critical mass of attention now is for an ad to go viral,” says Mr Walsh.
Walsh also believes the internet as we know it is changing.
”Globally, internet is simply becoming a utility. It is the applications that matter. Consumers don’t need to understand electricity to make a cup of tea. Fast broadband is just the start, not the end of the innovation curve. ”
“When you ask people in Indonesia if they use the internet they say no. But if you ask them if they use Faceook they say yes because they see Facebook as a button on their Blackberry.
Mr Walsh predicts that location-based social networking like Foursquare will boom in Australia shortly such as how VIVO Cafe used Foursquareto gain a swarm badge and promote their business online.
Mike Walsh ain’t much of a futurist. Firstly he needs to travel to find out what is happening in the rest of the world. The only country close to fast broadband is Sth Korea with 80% coverage for a population of 60m in a country not much larger than Tasmania. Japan runs some fast broadband (50Mbps) on copper. Scandanavia – news to me that they have fast broadband. China – huh? we have two chinese national english teachers with us at the moment and they’ve never heard of it – but their kids go to school for 10 hrs a day 6 days a week. France has some ADSL2 in some of their larger cities. US – 40% of the country doesn’t have broadband. Malaysia – been trying for 4 years to get something with the govt offerinf $3.5b and still hasn’t got it. Fast broadband would be terrific so would a half reasonably decent highway system – and same goes for hospitals – same goes for just about everything else. Why has fast broadband got to be first cab off the rank. PRivate industry will never put in the $18b the govt thinks it will. Qld has had medical consultations over internet for years so I presume that other states have the same thing already. Big Business has access to 1Gbps already. I think these people are grasping at straws looking for justification. Now Mike Walsh better get himself up to speed on the technicalities of communications instead of gazing into his tea leaves before making stupid inane statements.