Posted: 17th Oct, 2003 By: MarkJ
BTs CEO, Ben Verwaayen, has stated at the Etre conference that broadband will change more than just telecom and ISP companies; it'll change society itself:
Broadband puts customers as a spider on the web, said Verwaayen. "Theyll create content and networks as they see fit. You cant discriminate between computers and servers. It all melts together.
For the telecomms industry it is a very disruptive change between the older traditional services and the new. People just consumed more and more information but were not prepared to pay for it. People are paying for bits and bytes, but not for value". He said the telecomms industry, while seeing a volume growth, was seeing a lack in economic growth. The old business, he said, was a business of cost cutting, while at the same time "something new is emerging".
"The most important application broadband will bring is choice. Not what brilliant people in labs think of. BT Openworld was not world class, and thats why we partnered with Yahoo".
No doubt more than a few of you would agree with that last sentence. More @ The Inquirer.