Sitting here in a very much broadband enabled, no space in the market for internet cafes as everyone surfs on their phone UK, it’s often easy to forget there are huge regions of the world that don’t have online access. Though it’s a situation that experts predict will change rapidly in the near future, according to Mashable‘s recent fact-heavy story, based on figures provided by Cisco.
By 2015 it is expected that 3billion people will be on the internet. In terms of the predicted population for that year, this figure represents 40% of everyone on Earth. To put that into context, according to water.org only 62% of us have what’s described as improved sanitation, despite the fact pipes and plumbing have been around for a distinctly longer period of time than dial up.
The disturbingly sporadic nature of worldwide development to one side there are some more staggering statistics behind the story that don’t sound like a charity guilt trip. Firstly, it’s predicted that there will be 4.4 web-enabled devices per person in Western Europe in four years time, and the amount of global traffic per annum will equate to all the digital data in existence circa 2010. That’s a lot of information, and proof if it were needed that fibre optics must be rolled out with haste.
Most surprising of all the bombshells, as Lauren Indvik, the writer behind our source material also highlights, is the idea that flat panel televisions with an internet connection will be the biggest growth area, as the still-fledgling devices could see a 1,063% uptake compared with last year. In contrast the traditional desktop will boost itself by just 25%, which will come as no real shock to most. Neither will the news that it’s Africa and the Middle East that will experience the most exponential booms, given the fact these are currently areas with low user numbers. Regardless of where you’re based though this shows that when it comes to online things still have a long way to go.
(C) Woodleywonderworks
