When we think of the US and it’s
advances in technology we sometimes just assume that we are the most
advanced. I will safely say that until
today I thought we were the most technologically savvy country, with the fastest
networks and the best mobile technologies.
It wasn’t until I read an article by TECH.BLORGE, which shows data that
ranks the United States as the 15th country when it comes to
broadband activity. It doesn’t stop
there though; the United States is behind countries like Japan and Sweden when
comparing speed and availability. Being
ranked 15th shows that we need major improvement with our broadband
network and the expansion of it. The
ranking deals primarily with broadband activity which means the US isn’t using
mobile devices as much as other countries which I don’t view as a negative
statistic. To some this may come as a
surprise because the US is often portrayed as a country full of technology and
mobile phone use.
The most
surprising statistic where the US really slacks is broadband speed and
price. Japan leads the way with the
fastest broadband speeds at a ridiculous 63.6M bps (bits per second). Japan by far has the fast broadband speeds
but with those speeds comes a very reasonable price at $.13 cents per
megabit. Sweden brings in speeds
averaging about 16.8M bps (bits per second) and also has very reasonable
prices. The United States has pathetic
speeds at an average of 4.9M bps (bits per second) and has rates that to some
seem astronomical. The US on average
charges $2.83 per megabit, which is insanely high for the poor speed.
Why is our
country so far behind? A large part is
that the US government is yet to mandate the existing broadband providers and
they share their networks with their competitors. This allows the providers to have better
speed and reliability as many nations do.
Our government is yet to contribute to the extension of broadband to
rural areas and inner cities that need it.
The problem that a lot of inner city residents face is the absurdly high
costs is too high for them to afford to install the infrastructure. People argue that the government needs to act
now because we are already weaker than many countries in science and languages. Being behind other countries, the lack of
broadband initiatives in the US puts itself at risk of being less of a
competitor in a world that is driven by technology.
China is on
track to jump in front of the US with the worlds largest smart phone market by
volume. According to Forbes IDC expects China to expand
their smartphone market shares by a humungous amount to a 26.8% and the US is
dropping to about 18% market share.
China began its assent to the top last year when it surpassed the US in
cell phone sales. A big part of the
increase was the drop in cost of the android, which in China was below 200
dollars. China’s high demand for smart
phones is benefitting the Chinese telecom companies and since the phones are
made in China it adds to the benefit as well.
China is also home to the largest wireless service provider. China Mobile is the largest wireless service
provider with over 700 million customers, which is 3 times as much as its
closest competitor. China mobile is yet
to even take on 3G. It is primarily 2G
and its gigantic network is right now in the process of getting upgraded. When China mobile transitions from 2G to 3G
it is predicted that it is going to greatly expand into an even larger wireless
service provider.
It is safe
to say that the US is lagging when it comes to mobile technology and
sales. I believe that mobile technology
is going to have a huge impact on this world.
The US needs to get the upper hand when it comes to mobile technology
and certainly needs to increase its sales.
Because of the US’s high prices for wireless service, I think it pushes
away potential prospects and buyers of the mobile devices. With the tough economy, people are struggling
to pay bills. With such high rates for
wireless service people are going to cut down on their payments and stop using
the service. We pay almost 3 dollars
for a network that is so much slower than other countries. The value of the product we are receiving for
the price that it’s at is not acceptable.
If the US is ever going to expand its mobile technology and the mobile
technology market the government needs to get involved. InterCitys need to start being able to afford
these products.
In this video chairman of China Mobile, Wang Jianzhou, talks about China Mobiles expansion.
I did not realize that the US was not very competitive in broadband sales. It looks like America has been in this same position for a while now. USA Today (http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/news/opinion/editorials/story/2011-12-06/Guess-whos-No-1-in-broadband-Hint-Its-not-USA/51683876/1) states that the reason why our government is unable to make our broadband more competitive is because other countries have policies that promote competition, which would lead to more improvements in broadband technology. American policies have only allowed a few prominent broadband providers to compete in the market. Given this information, it seems like the best thing for the US to do would be to promote competition. Not only would this improve broadband sales, but also it would increase the number of jobs and would help in improving the economy. As you said, the US has to become a stronger competitor so that we can overcome top countries like Japan, Sweden, and China.
ReplyDeleteI also thought the United States was up there in technology, but when I read Bradlee's statistic from TechBlorge that the United States is 15th in broadband activity for countries in the world. Clearly were not as tech savvy as we thought and it brings about the question into how this can be changed. Also, how we can raise these rankings to become higher up. Technology has been taking major steps in countries such as China. Its become such a factor that Apple has made it possible for Siri to understand Mandarian, according to Lee Chyen Yee and Melanie Lee or Reuters.com (http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/07/25/us-apple-china-idUSBRE86O0A920120725). Is this something we should focus on as a country or is just something minor that wont effect us much?
ReplyDeleteLike you Bradlee, I too was shocked to hear that the US was not one of the worldwide leaders in broadband technology. I could understand if the United States was top 3, or even in the top 5, but in no sober state would I bet that the United States ranks 15th worldwide in broadband activity. Furthermore, I was also confused as to why the United States charges so much for a broadband speed that is significantly slower than its worldwide competitors. After reading all these statistics about how the United States' technological savvy is not as great in comparison to our worldwide competition, I was surprised to read that we were still holding onto the number 1 rank for largest smart phone market. I found it odd that a country like Japan would not own the title for largest smart phone market by volume. Curious, I decided to look into why that might be. I found that the volume of the market is significantly related to the size of the population in the country (http://techcrunch.com/2012/08/30/idc-android-crazy-china-passes-u-s-as-smartphone-leader-but-indias-growing-the-fastest/). This might explain why countries like China and the United States are ranked numbers 1 and 2, while a country such as Japan, who although leads the world in many other technological categories but is much less populated, would not rank as high in market share volume.
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