Cisco Blog

Government and Industry Leaders Want Broadband Everywhere

Robert Pepper | June 6, 2012 at 5:30 am PST

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The latest update of the Visual Networking Index (VNI) forecast of Internet protocol (IP) data traffic from 2011 to 2016 is just astonishing. At the top level, global IP traffic growth is exploding at a CAGR of nearly 30% with much regional variation across the world, and different technologies and applications gaining share.

To explore the implications of the VNI forecasts for countries, consumers and corporations, I hosted a panel of experts with a wide range of policy, technical and industry experience. Joining the discussion were:

Diego Molano Vega: Colombia’s Minister of Information Technology and Communications

Daniel Weitzner: Deputy Chief Technology Officer for Internet Policy, Office of Science and Technology Policy at The White House

Kathleen Abernathy: Chief Legal Officer and Executive Vice President of Frontier Communications; and former Commissioner of the Federal Communications Commission

Kevin McElearney: Senior Vice President of Network Engineering at Comcast

The panel discussed a wide range of issues, with three key take-aways:

Policy Implications in the Rise of Mobile Broadband and Heterogenous Network Access

Robert Pepper | March 19, 2012 at 7:06 am PST

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Over the last few months, a growing consensus has emerged pointing to a dramatic change in the way people access the Internet.

In 2011, for the first time ever, worldwide annual demand for smart phones surpassed that of PCs, laptops and tablets combined. Then last month our Mobile Visual Networking Index (VNI) Update reported that global mobile data traffic is growing even faster than previously forecasted and will increase 18-fold over the next five years.

So by this year’s Mobile World Congress in Barcelona in February, the ‘top of mind’ for network operators, government officials and device manufacturers was the dramatic accelerating impact that mobile data consumption will have on Internet access, networks and users.

When we launched the mobile VNI report on February 14, a panel of industry, academia and government experts glimpsed into the future of mobile broadband and related policy issues, with three key takeaways: