Broadband in Poland: a fast evolution

Poland is nowadays one of the most developing countries in European Union (EU). We analyze this case in collaboration with Piotr Paluch. After joining the union in 2004, the dynamic process of “catching up” to the rest of the Western Europe countries have started and it also includes major progress in the area of broadband and communication. Today Poland is becoming a leader in that branch with a lot of innovative technologies and systems to improve the speed and solidity of the countries broadband.

In 2012, 65% of the population of the country have used the Internet. These numbers are growing every year. Also according to official website of the Polish Ministry of Treasury, by 2016, more than 50% of the inhabitants will have access to the broadband internet, while the number of connection lines will reach 6,6 millions and 9 millions in 2018 (from the prediction analysis done by PwC).

Ireland: one of the fastest broadband speeds

The reality of Broadband Society is increasingly positive. It is the case of Ireland (in collaboration with Sarah Talty). This country has one of the fastest broadband speeds in the world and broadband in rural Ireland is gradually improving, but it wasn’t always this way. It has been 16 years since the first DSL connection went live in Ireland in 2001. 

In fact the earliest emails can be dated back to the 1950’s but the Internet only began being used more in the 1970’s. In the late 1990’s and for the first few years of the 2000’s in Ireland there were only dial-up connections in Ireland. That meant that when you used the Internet in your house, nobody could call your home phone. This was really very inconvenient. Alternatively you could get a separate line for your home phone but this was very expensive so few households would have done this. Broadband arrived in the early 2000’s and with it came the arrival of two separate lines, so therefore people could use the Internet and their phones simultaneously.

Fast broadband for Scotland

Digitization and connectivity are improving following the Broadband Society axioms.The digital future of Scotland, analyzed in collaboration with Beattie Megan Merino, is being entirely reinvented at present with the introduction of a new program to make fast internet connection accessible in all parts of the country. 

Scotland, with its rural landscapes and scattered small towns, is one of the most challenging countries in Europe to install fast and effective broadband but the government have made it very clear that they highly prioritise the continuous advancement of technology and see it as an integral part of the countries’ evolution and economic growth. 

Broadband in the USA: a long evolution

In the current society, the Internet is something the human population uses daily for information, entertainment, direction, and much more. But there was a time when internet was still premature; in fact, there was a time from which internet had to be born. This essay, in collaboration with Kristen Hinderliter, will explore the history and growth of broadband connections and internet in the United States of America. 

In 1957, the Advanced Research Projects Agency, also known as ARPA, was created by the United States’ Department of Defense in response to the Soviet Union’s recent Sputnik launch. The idea was that the Soviet Union was getting too far ahead in technological and research advancement; the Advanced Research Projects Agency was the United States government’s way of getting back into the competition. ARPA along with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, or NASA, was supposed to recreate technical supremacy in the United States of America.