Bridging the Connectivity Divide

I’m in Cumbria in the North of England today, discussing how investment in connectivity is essential for the rural areas of Britain, in order to keep opportunities for the people and businesses of these communities alive.

The ‘connectivity divide’ is an issue that is moving up the agenda for local and national government. As the pace of change in technology increases, so does the gap between connected and unconnected communities.

It’s something that existing and future governments across the world need to consider as they make investment decisions relating to their nation’s key infrastructure.

For instance, I believe that by the end of this century, digital infrastructure will have become more important than the traditional infrastructure of the past.

While the highways, railways, airports and buildings that have surrounded us all our lives won’t have vanished by the year 2100, I do believe they will have become less essential to the way we meet, greet, trade and travel.

Yes, there needs to be continued investment in a nations’ traditional infrastructure, but we need to strike the right balance between doing what we’ve always done and looking at new ways to support 21st century businesses, citizens and societies.

While I’m not suggesting that traditional infrastructure projects should be halted – far from it – I do think we need to get the balance right, and acknowledge the economic, environmental and efficiency benefits that connected digital networks can deliver.

Superfast mobile networks enable us to work from anywhere, contact anyone, buy, pay and transport our voice, images and huge amounts of data across vast distances at the touch of a button. It allows previously isolated people, businesses and communities to connect to the outside world, bringing in more opportunity.

And people are grasping those opportunities that digital connectivity offers more and more.

In fact, our trend-analysis at EE shows that mobile data usage will rise by 750% over the next three years. That’s unprecedented in our industry, and requires a new way of thinking, a new understanding of our industry’s place in the world, a new acknowledgement of just how essential we are to communities, companies and consumers.

It used to be the so-called geeks that cared about this kind of stuff. Now it's the gardeners, green-grocers and grandmothers. Everyone, from every walk of life, of all ages are using connectivity to make their lives better, fuller, richer.

The UK’s political and business leaders are starting to acknowledge this, and great progress has been made – especially in the last 12 months with the launch of 4G in the UK.

However, there is still a huge amount to be done as we progress toward delivering a totally immersive, connected society. And it starts with ensuring we have a solid and progressive digital infrastructure today – one that’s fit for purpose and can deliver on the demands of a digitally hungry nation.

I’d be interested in hearing your thoughts on the importance of traditional versus digital infrastructure and how you as businesses and consumers stands to benefit from it.

Do please comment and debate below.