Latest briefing explores challenges and opportunites of 4G
11 Oct 2012 03:17 PM
Public service managers should be thinking hard about implications of 4G now that 3G has made mobile internet use routine.
Thanks to 3G, says the briefing, people are already conditioned to accessing data and services whenever and wherever they happen to be, and are used to transacting business from their mobiles when they are on the move. Commerce has whetted user appetites for features and functions, and the public sector must respond or at least manage expectations.
The briefing points out that pilot testing of 4G services is already underway in London, Birmingham, Cardiff and Bristol and that 16 cities, accounting for some 20 million people, are set to receive services shortly.
While these cities will gain economically from the development, other towns and cities will see themselves on the wrong side of this digital divide in the short term. Meanwhile some rural areas have yet to see even 3G access.