The End of Rabbit Ears, a Billion more Broadband Users - Part II

Three years ago, I wrote about the end of broadcasted television signals through the air on February 17, 2009.  It was one of the earliest articles here on The Futurist, and we have now arrived at the date when this transition will take place. 

In the last 3 years, we have seen the Apple iPhone (now in a 2.0 version), as well as broad deployment of 3G service to cellular phones.  Neither were available in February 2006.  But these are small increments compared to what access to the previously unavailable 700 MHz spectrum will give rise to.  The auction for the spectrum fetched $19.6 Billion, indicating how valuable this real-estate is. 

Signals sent at this frequency can easily pass through walls, and over far greater distances than signals in higher frequency bands.  More importantly, since wireless is the dominant (and often only) means of Internet access in many developing countries, the innovations designed to exploit the 700 MHz band in the US will inevitably be modified to supercharge wireless Internet access in India, Latin America, and Africa.  An additional 1 billion broadband Internet users in developing regions will be connected by 2013, as predicted in Part I of this article.  There are few technologies that can help pull people out of poverty so quickly. 

In the depths of a recession, the events that spark the next expansion arise almost unnoticed.  WIthin 24 months of this event, there will be a vast array of exciting wireless products and services for all of us to enjoy.  Remember that today, despite the economy being in its darkest hour, was the day that it began. 

(crossposted on TechSector)

Comments

[Zyndryl]

"The auction for the spectrum fetched $19.6 Billion, indicating how valuable this real-estate is."

ONLY $19.6 billion?

What a steal.

Of course, when it was auctioned that no doubt reflected what the bandwidth was worth THEN.

What it will end up being worth has to place the value at least ten times as much, of course.

[GK]

Zyndryl,

Indeed. By 2019, almost 5 billion people will be using this spectrum heavily every day.

[brokerdavelhr]

GK,

Just wondering, do you believe Ray Kurzweil is correct when he assumes that by 2020 there will be a one world govt? If so, do you believe that Igor Panarin is correct in his assumption that would lead be a major stepping stone in making this happen?

[GK]

brokerdavelhr,

Where did Kurzweil say such a thing? I don't think any credible futurist would predict something so absurd.

All major national-states will have the same boundaries containing sovereign governments in 2020 as they do in 2009.

[brokerdavelhr]

GK,

My mistake - I believe that I took something out of context. A while back I read the book The Age of Spiritual Machines (I believe written in the late 90's) and remembered a brief blurb on it, but you know Kurzweil better then I do, So I will dust it off and re-read it - my memory isn't all it used to be.

All major national-states will have the same boundaries containing sovereign governments in 2020 as they do in 2009.
This is a whole other subject all to its own, and I believe you have better things to do than to sit here and debate this with me. The only reason I stuck this thought in the blog at all
was use of technology in its given parameters and its targeted audience- in essence, poor are happy with new technology, but due to a lack of understanding of its workings, are unaware
of its nanny form. I do remember in the same book listed above, that Kurzweil did touch on this. Granted he hinted it would be more of a political then social, but who knows?
After all, those in power use the technology to monitor, influence, and control, where-as your average Joe uses it for business, e-mail, and entertainment. I guess this is all a point of view
issue though, so I will not waste your blog space with this one.

[brokerdavelhr]

Also when the new Stimulus plan gets enacted, 25 + billion will be spent to 'give broadband service to rural areas' on the govt. Maybe if I went broke and didn't work at all I would actually get more and be able to actually enjoy it as I would not be working. Darn socialist.

[eveonline isk]

Also when the new Stimulus plan gets enacted, 25 + billion will be spent to 'give broadband service to rural areas' on the govt. Maybe if I went broke and didn't work at all I would actually get more and be able to actually enjoy it as I would not be working. Darn socialist.

[t]

Test

[Brandon]

When watching this video qutseion everything that Ray Kurzweil predicts. He takes examples of established trends and haphazardly applies it other technologies. The brain is a different beast in terms of complexity. We will see an exponential growth in reverse engineering the brain but there is an issue that Kurzweil did not address. He uses an example of two models that only answer one aspect of the areas they represent. The problem exponentially increases when combining brain regions and adding brain functions. The exponential increase in complexity will negate the exponential growth in technology and knowledge, thus will result in a linear growth.