Foremost among these are delays and uncertainties about linking it all up. At the moment, such essential build-out is happening slowly or only in the planning stages. An even larger uncertainty is how this connectivity will be priced, used, and offered to businesses and consumers. And of course, primary issues such as simply getting a telephone installed within six weeks, or receiving a decent level of service on an office network, still plague telephone operators - all of them. Consumers, in particular, are still adrift in the connectivity doldrums.
Consumers can look forward to getting an ADSL offering early in the new year, by all accounts.
Cable, despite the hype, is available to only a few communities where upgrades have been made to existing networks, and in general remains an uncertain bet - especially as service levels and speed decline as more people get on the network. They are here because the big bandwidth is here, and they are preparing virtual homes for the e-business companies they know will come in search of that bandwidth. They're good partners for the State, since they will be aggressively going after the multinational and indigenous ebusiness the Government wants to see happen here. Finally, regulatory issues, as ever, will hang over an industry that changes so quickly into new forms that regulators are hard pressed to keep up with it. Add to that the genetic disposition to bicker if you are a telco, and the ODTR seems certain to remain at the centre of this squabbling, counter-suing pack throughout 2001.