Distance education, as an application has existed for a number of years. Correspondence courses represent it's earliest form. As communication technology has improved, the means for providing distance education has changed. Many current forms are now based on satellite uplinks or video conferencing. Distance education, though, has not gained widespread use because of it's costs.
Many technologies are expensive to utilize.
The Internet has renewed previous interest in distance education because it is relatively inexpensive to implement, allows for 2 way communication, has standard means of communication across the world and can be available to many students. Internet-based education is quite different from teaching in the traditional classroom setting. The implication of Internet-based instruction is that education can now be viewed as truly global rather than local. Anyone with Internet access can participate. This means persons in developing countries may now have alternatives in education to the common practice of traveling overseas to get an advanced degree.