Throughout the world, countries are enacting legislation that looks to further the infrastructure that they’ve built around the Internet. With every passing year, the Internet has become more and more of a part of people’s daily personal and business lives. It has gotten to the point where availability to the Internet is now more or less expected by consumers wherever they go. A consequence of this greater reliance upon the Internet is that it has progressively become a more and more essential tool for business. Nowadays, any business that does not have an Internet presence of some kind will soon no longer have a business.
In response to this demand, many governments are creating legislative pathways that would make Internet development a national priority. Chief among these countries are places like Japan and Korea, where they have some of the most consistent high-speed connections on Earth. However, the interesting thing is not so much found in the speed of some countries, but rather in the slowness of others. Despite the integral role that the Internet plays in international commerce, education, entertainment and government, some countries have taken very few steps toward enhancing their Internet infrastructure. This includes some very powerful western countries such as the United States.
It’s surprising for many people to hear that the United States has one of the slowest, weakest and least efficient Internet infrastructures on the planet. Internet speeds are very slow in the US, which trails behind most developed countries in the development of fiber Internet options. While there are a lot of reasons behind this, the truth is that the age of the infrastructure is often quoted as a major factor. After all, many others in the international community have only recently begun developing their Internet framework after watching other countries pioneer the methods. It stands to reason that the countries who were able to learn from others would be able to quickly develop faster infrastructures. However, this doesn’t change the fact that the United States was primarily responsible for the development of the Internet and is now falling behind.
This is a fact that is not without its critics throughout the country. A broad range of people from business owners to private citizens have been leading the charge in bringing the United States’ Internet infrastructure into the 21st century. Famous business managers like Bobby Kotick Activision Blizzard CEO have expressed numerous times that broadband development is an important part of developing a thriving economy. While this may be the case, the truth is that not much is being done on the legislative level to remedy this issue. It has taken many years, but finally some independent companies have stepped into the fray to develop services that the government is dragging its feet on. This is perhaps the biggest piece of hope going forward for the United States and its lackluster Internet infrastructure.
There are many things that influence the growth and development of international markets. However, few things have the same level of impact on business growth as high Internet speeds. As the world’s economy begins to focus evermore on online presences, countries without reliable, fast Internet will fall to the wayside. In this, you can see how the growing role of the Internet throughout the world is a topic that should be on the mind of every businessperson.