And Broadband Connectivity equals jobs. That was a key point that I have been making in the last couple of years in keynote speeches addressing thousands in audiences across the country at various conferences.
At the AGL (Above Ground Level Magazine) Conference yesterday, I presented this key concept as well as my thoughts on the convergence of WiFi, DAS, and Smartphones in 21st century real estate at the breakfast Keynote speech.
At lunch, the President of the PCIA, Jon Adelstein, announced a new study that further affirms what I have been saying all along – adding Broadband Connectivity to a region adds jobs to it as well.
The report, “Wireless Broadband Infrastructure: A Catalyst for GDP and Job Growth 2013- 2017” points out the fact that building up the infrastructure with wireless technology investments between $34 billion to $36 billion per year for the next five years would yield “a 2.2 percent increas in GDP by 2017”. It would also impact job creation of over “28,000 jobs in 2017 and over 122,000 in the next five years in the wireless infrastructure industry alone.”
The summary of the report, given by Adelstein, just bolsters the accuracy of my early observation that in order to get local and regional economies back on track, you have to focus on adding network infrastructure to increase economic viability.
Adelstein said, “The simple truth is that a 2.2 percent increase in GDP and 1.2 million new jobs will not come about by magic.”
Adelstein continued, “They will only occur if, as a nation, we recognize the fundamental importance of having a robust, ubiquitous and affordable wireless broadband network that meets the demands of the 21st century economy.”
THE TIME TO GET GOING ON THIS IS NOW
The smaller towns understand this better than the larger ones. It is a matter of survival to have a more robust network infrastructure in place so that you can attract and maintain corporate facilities. Any small town knows that if they don’t attract new businesses they will stagnate and die. Larger cities think that they do not need to have these intelligent amenities embedded into the fabric of their infrastructure. They are wrong.
As I have said at this conference as well as other previous conferences, “The three most important words in real estate have become “Location,, Location, Connectivity,”” and it is critical for local economies to get that concept into their economic development and planning commissions. We cannot think that last-century solutions are going to get us through the 21st century.
The PCIA report can be found here at www.pcia.com
CARLINI-ISM: State and local planning commissions have to realize the importance of Broadband Connectivity and its impact on the regional economy.
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This would require an investment in infrastructure, which some ideologies don’t support as a responsibility of government (local or national) just like roads and bridges. Even if government incentives were leveraged to encourage privatized groups to invest in these efforts, those same ideologues would insist on not creating jobs simply to not appear to be supporting the other party. And after all, there’s no return in it for them unless they can charge usage fees. Yes, it’s the right thing to do but there’s a reason that it won’t get done and that’s because imagery is more important than substance in our society today.
Keep up the good articles!