Historical Role of Infrastructure in Economic Development

Throughout history in the developed world, transportation infrastructure has played an important role in supporting the economic development of communities. Waterways, railways, interstate highways and international airports have all contributed to the evolving traditional transportation media for moving atoms (people, materials, finished goods etc.) from place to place.

In fact, a community’s relative proximity or access to traditional transportation infrastructure could mean the extreme difference between economic prosperity and growth, or isolation and eventual economic decay. There are numerous documented examples of this direct relationship between traditional infrastructure investment and economic growth.

In the same way that traditional media moves atoms, telecom networks move bits (information, or other content). Therefore, one could easily draw a parallel between a community's relative proximity or access to telecom infrastructure, and a resulting impact on their economic development and growth.

Somewhat like their courageous predecessors, such as Marco Polo, Ferdinand Magellan and Captain James Cook, the new adventurers of our time will use the mobility derived from the internet to navigate and explore new horizons and frontiers via virtual expeditions and trade missions across the borderless global landscape of the World Wide Web.