Europe to Take the Lead of the Transition to Web 3.0

Europe could take the lead in the next generation of the Internet. The European Commission outlined the main steps that Europe has to take to respond to the next wave of the Information Revolution that will intensify in the coming years. Trends such as social networking, the decisive shift to on-line business services, nomadic services based on GPS and mobile TV and the growth of smart tags will lead to this Information Revolution.The report shows that Europe is well placed to exploit these trends due to its policies to support open and pro-competitive telecom networks. The Commission report also unveils a new Broadband Performance Index (BPI) that compares national performance on key measures such as broadband speed, price, competition and coverage. Sweden and the Netherlands top this European broadband league, which complements the more traditional broadband penetration index used so far by telecoms regulators.

 

"The Internet of the future will radically change our society," said Viviane Reding, Commissioner for Information Society and Media. "Web 3.0 means seamless 'anytime, anywhere' business, entertainment and social networking over fast reliable and secure networks. It means the end of the divide between mobile and fixed lines. It signals a tenfold quantum leap in the scale of the digital universe by 2015. Europe has the know-how and the network capacity to lead this transformation. We must make sure that Web 3.0 is made and used in Europe."

New technology applications will need ubiquitous Internet coverage. Wireless interaction between machines, vehicles, appliances, sensors and many other devices will take place using the Internet. It already makes electronic travel cards possible, and will allow mobile devices to exchange information to pay for things or get information from billboards. It is predicted that such technology will be in more than one billion phones by 2015.

These will be major opportunities for EU businesses as long as there is enough investment in high-speed broadband access and support for innovation and research.

On the other hand, poor competition may hold back investment in advanced technologies and result in high prices. Social factors such as the lack of digital skills, limited PC penetration and a poor spending in ICT also appear to be important barriers to further developments.