Broadband for all – ZAWYA

Broadband for all – ZAWYA

Broadband for all: Digital connectivity now a necessity | ZAWYA MENA Edition HomeBusinessTechnologyArticleBroadband for all: Digital connectivity now a necessity McKinsey & Company projects that the number of IoT-connected devices globally will increase to 43 billion by 2023    Image used for illustrative purpose. Businessman working with laptop computer and digital tablet on tableSTANFORD - COVID-19 has revealed both the strengths and weaknesses of America's broadband Internet infrastructure. On the positive side, supply has not only withstood the remarkable increase in demand for e-commerce, telehealth, and communications, but expanded. As shelter-in-place measures and social-distancing rules reduced normal access to education and health services, the Internet compensated, at least in part, by providing remote connectivity to tens of millions of people.Douglas Holtz-Eakin, a former director of the US Congressional Budget Office, argues persuasively that, by unleashing competition and innovation, government regulatory policy in the United States has allowed the tech sector to grow. Computing power has increased 100-fold in the past 15 years. The US today has more high-speed broadband than Europe, and has avoided many unnecessary regulations that would have constrained private-sector initiative. As a result, 90% of American adults now use the Internet, and 25% of companies use the