In the broadband era, we won't be limited to communicating through wireline phones faxes wireless phones pagers and PCs. You won't necessarily have to have a person on either end of these broadband-era connections. Much of the communication will occur automatically - almost in the background of our everyday lives, whether it's monitoring the status of vital systems, placing orders, tracking shipments, or completing transactions. In that sense, it's not an exaggeration to say that broadband changes everything for businesses and their customers. Broadband networks will fundamentally change many of the key assumptions we make about our ability to compete.
Old barriers topple.
But we're all going to be deeply affected by the flood of bandwidth. We're seeing the leading edge of the tidal wave today, with the growth of e-commerce over the Internet. Already, businesses regulators and governments are struggling to keep up with the rapid pace of change. We know, for example, that the wireless segment of the communications market is still pretty much in its infancy. We project that more than 245 million will be sold this year alone.