Communities Will Turn to Technology to Help Meet Future Challenges-Pandemics, Social Unrest Will Help

There can be no social media platforms, telephones that transmit video images, text messaging, voice calls, email, or internet usage without fiber optics. Terabits (equivalent to roughly 333 hours of Netflix viewing time) of data moving back and forth between individuals, companies, and countries represent a foregleam of what the future holds. The Internet of Things will open possibilities that we now view as impossible. 

THE 20th century has witnessed an unprecedented overload of information. Whether by printed material, radio or television coverage, the Internet, or some other means, the world is saturated with information. We all need and desire to be well-informed but having vast amounts of information does not necessarily educate us in the true sense, for much of what masquerades as information is nothing more than bare facts or raw data. In addition to this, the modern world as we know it changed with the advent of a global pandemic. ‘Shelter in place’ is yet another term that will forever be added to the English lexicon. Along with this, it seemed as if in an instant of time, the entire globe was shut-in and tethered to their home computing devices. Virtual meetings have now become the norm, our new global standard. This new standard has placed even greater importance on high-speed pervasive internet connectivity, hence the reason why Wi-Fi has become a ubiquitous technology in the world. It provides connections for billions of devices and is the first choice for more and more users to access the Internet.  

The world of technology (wi-fi, internet usage, videoconferencing, etc.) has as its underpinning a technology that is over 50 years old – fiber optics. The world of fiber optic communications and its ability to carry almost infinite amounts of digital information represents monumental changes to business, healthcare, education, and almost every other human endeavor imaginable.

Fiber optics will represent a great change similar to what pervasive electricity has done for modern society. A strand of glass with the ability to carry the informational needs of millions will eventually transform, education, healthcare, agriculture, and urban administration, to name a few.

Yet all those transformations will pale in comparison to innovations and new industries that we can’t even imagine today. Fiber to the neighborhood will soon become the norm, not the exception. Governments and municipalities will eventually shake off giant conglomerates who suppress the market in favor of cheap high-speed fiber for all.

Admittedly, fiber optic last-mile networks are expensive to install, as were electrical lines. Experts universally agree that post-COVID-19 recovery will have technology as its underpinning. Widely available fiber-optic access in and of itself won’t make an inner-city thrive, but without it, thriving won’t happen. As an example, Daniel Forslund, who leads Sweden strategy for e-healthcare and government innovation, predicts, “You will see a patient want to have access to huge quantities of data. You will want to see that film from your operation or from the MRI scan. You will want to see how everything is working with your tissues and joints, and you will want to produce live-streamed data from your connected device-a glucose level, or your heartbeat, or anything else and that will require very large data connections from the individual patient to the health care sector.”  It’s crucial to remember that when it comes to fiber, it’s not about the fiber itself, but what it enables.

No one would argue that preventive care for persons living in at-risk zip codes needs to be gutted and replaced. Persons suffering from chronic illnesses and mental health issues require ongoing support. The methods of helping such ones will require more timely, convenient, less expensive, and more personalized care. In order for patients to get this care, when and where they need it as well as feel a sense of engagement and autonomy, will require fiber – everywhere.

At some point in the near future, haptics (the use of technology that stimulates the senses of touch and motion) and glasses will become cheap and instead of looking down at our current devices, we will wear glasses to display information. In the field of education, public school students must travel to a center, with its high fixed costs for buildings and grounds, in order to access adult educational opportunities. Fiber to the home will allow for a virtual reality learning experience that is hard to imagine today. Fiber will enable this possibility.

“Who needs fiber when the future is wireless?”

It is important to remember that Fiber is complementary to wireless. They do not substitute for one another. High capacity wireless connections similar to 5G-require fiber to run deep into neighborhoods and buildings and future wireless networks will look like present-day Wi-Fi in their architecture: relatively small areas, each attached to the fiber. As paradoxical as it sounds, the future of advanced wireless depends completely on how much fiber is in place. For the purpose of this article, pervasive high-speed internet usage should not be thought of as a consumption tool for entertainment. Future Educational, Healthcare, and Videoconferencing advances will require symmetric high-speed connections with equal upload and download speeds.

There has never been a more urgent need than now: the need to implement technological plumbing (fiber to the neighborhood) that will spur meaningful future innovation. It’s vital to deliver a robust infrastructure to those working from home. Once the tools are delivered, innovation will soon follow. 

The city of Stockholm wants the world to know that people are moving there from southern Europe, this city has the highest population of technology workers of all European cities and a very large number of programmers along with the highest smartphone population. As of 2015, Sweden has the second-largest concentration of billion-dollar companies per capita, behind only Silicon Valley.

The urgency of our times necessitates the rapid deployment of solutions needed to address the basic needs of at-risk communities. Fiber to the neighborhood represents an investment that will be utilized for decades to come. Water, sewer, electricity, and fiber optics should be part of every city's neighborhood infrastructure. Like the aforementioned utilities, there is no direct payment back to the community. That’s not how infrastructure works. Over time, the vast majority of these networks support everything a community wants to do. Adding this piece of infrastructure will help spur economic growth and social cohesion. Any city advertising itself as one of the best places to live, work, or start a business must have fiber as its foundation to support such a saying.  

The 2017 Federal Reserve report’s central finding suggested that “the arc of growth” needs to be intentionally connected to “the arc of opportunity”. This begs the question, what does success look like?  

Success should be measured by each individual neighborhood. The pillars listed below provide the needed framework for a successful implementation:

1. Closing the “digital divide” (not the payment to internet service conglomerates, but fiber optic neighborhood infrastructure investment thereby weaning dependence and neighborhood becoming their own ISP's )

2. Spurring economic expansion

3. Enhancing public service delivery

In today’s hyper-competitive world, businesses, both large and small, need every scrap of speed they can get their hands on, and if they have to move to a new city to get those scraps they will. Fiber connections allow home-based businesses to reach more customers and think bigger as they consider ways to expand. Fiber allows for moving more of the business to an online model. 

Fiber connections make residential neighborhoods more attractive. Investments in optical fiber represent an investment in the future. Plans to expand fiber networks to our neighborhoods is difficult, tedious, and expensive to implement, but implement we must if we are to remain viable.

The fully baked plan recognizes that achieving its aspirations will require the work of many and charts a path for how Chicago can improve the capabilities of all stakeholders by operating within the resource and budget allocation. 

All of us understand that no single solution can solve every problem everywhere, we must realistically address disparities of service and gaps in infrastructure, using detailed mapping to pinpoint where those problems are most acute.

People continue their search for justice, truth, and fiber for all.