South Africa and Africa as a whole would do well to heed the advantages that broadband Internet can provide to the country or continent’s economy as describe by the recent European Commission’s Digital Competitiveness report.
Europe’s digital sector has made strong progress since 2005: 56 per cent of Europeans now regularly use the Internet, 80 per cent of them via a high-speed connection (compared to only one third in 2004), making Europe the world leader in broadband Internet.
The Commission suggests that Europe can advance even further as a generation of ‘digitally savvy’ young Europeans becomes a strong market driver for growth and innovation. The report goes as far as to say that the potential of the digital economy is essential for Europe’s sustainable recovery from the economic crisis.
"Europe’s digital economy has tremendous potential to generate huge revenues across all sectors, but to turn this advantage into sustainable growth and new jobs, governments must show leadership by adopting coordinated policies that dismantle existing barriers to new services," said Viviane Reding, EU Commissioner for Information Society and Media.
"We should seize the opportunity of a new generation of Europeans who will soon be calling the shots in the European market place. These young people are intensive Internet users and are also highly demanding consumers. To release the economic potential of these ‘digital natives’, we must make access to digital content an easy and fair game."
The public consultation is open until 9 October 2009. This is the first step towards a new European ICT strategy, which the Commission aims to present in 2010 as part of the next wave of the Lisbon Agenda.
