Sharper vision

I know, I've been a baaaaad blogger recently, but I won't bore you with the reasons why. I have, however, resolved to mend my ways, so here's a micropost.

I've been working on a freelance project recently which seeks to explore some of the ways in which broadband, or whatever we end up calling it, can spur innovation. I'm trying to focus on non-trivial examples where broadband is either a critical enabler, but not the end service itself (as in the smart grid), or where the existence of broadband forces innovation elsewhere (as in the prevalence of cloud-enabled applications, which forces innovation in the data center).

My point of departure in thinking about this was a conference I attended a couple of years ago, where the CFO of an incumbent telco in Europe was asked about the rationale for FTTx deployment in the company's home market. The response was that the pay TV market in the country was deemed to be suitably competitive already, so it was difficult to make a case based on return on investment. Ergo, fiber = video. I am trying to write something which prompts a move away from this sort of thinking. Anyway, we'll see how it turns out.

Meanwhile, here's another item for your list of reasons why fiber is good for you - it improves your night vision.