The technology to do so has been available for several years in the form of cable and digital subscriber line (dsl) services, both of which offer much faster access to the net than the modems that still reside in people’s pcs or on their desks.
In some countries, these technologies have already become well established. In most, however, they remain luxury items, out of the reach of many subscribers because of high pricing and limited availability.
The reluctance of telecoms companies to expand their high-speed networks has been one of the biggest barriers to the growth of potentially profitable digital services. As a result, the much-heralded bandwidth explosion that hyperbolic commentators foresaw as the most significant social development since the discovery of fire is only now be- ginning to materialize.
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