Towards Ubiquitous Connectivity and a Decentralised Internet
We live in the digital age; an age where data is more valuable than oil. It’s an age where everything is progressing towards being a node in the network and where information is readily available, independent of space and time. But is it true for everyone?
In a world that embraces connectivity, being out of coverage means being left behind.
Technological connectivity has meant a lot of things to humankind, starting with a means to send written messages, to inventing the telephone, followed by the radio, and then the internet. All these things helped make the world a smaller place, by connecting people and channelling their emotions. But there is another striking coincidence with each of these technological advancements: Development. A connected world quickly becomes a developed world. In a world that embraces such connectivity, being out of coverage means being left behind.
At a glance, it looks like a simple problem to solve. If a region does not have internet connectivity, you simply provide them with it. But the solution necessitates a deeper understanding of ‘How to provide regions with connectivity’. We must first know ‘Why some regions don’t have connectivity’
The reasons lie on a broad spectrum, but can be summarised in three broad categories:
1. Natural: Physical barriers like mountain ranges and vast oceans, make it impractical, and sometimes impossible, to provide connectivity to certain regions in the world.
2. Technological: Some regions still live decades behind the developed world, and require the development of more basic infrastructure before achieving full-time connectivity.
3. Financial: Certain regions just don’t have enough business prospects for corporations to develop connectivity. People value their food and survival, more than their social media feeds.
More often than not, there is a significant overlap in the three categories. This issue manifests itself in various ways, including poor connectivity in rural areas, low-reliability internet in areas of strategic importance, and ultra-expensive internet in developing countries. This leaves the internet fragmented and centralised.
Given the difficulty of providing connectivity to these places, one may well wonder what is the utility of ubiquitous internet connectivity. It is in fact essential for the development of our society as a whole. To know how, we would have to take a trip to a few decades ago.
Just like any new invention in its infancy, the Internet was quickly embraced by the developed world. It encouraged a digital revolution that gave birth to several micro, small, and medium businesses and transformed the society in those countries. As the Internet expanded, its scope encompassed a few developing countries. This allowed for rapid globalisation of their local industries and their economies reaped benefits from it.
On an individual scale, it virtually brought people closer, eased access to information, increased cultural exchanges, and enabled global movements. All this only underlines the fact that there is a strong positive correlation between internet access and development.
This is what ubiquitous connectivity brings to the table: development of the economies devoid of connectivity right now.
But what does decentralisation have to do with any of this? In a Utopian world, with ubiquitous connectivity, the internet infrastructure and its users are proportionately distributed. However, the current situation is far from ideal. Even today, the internet infrastructure is distributed in the developed countries while the majority of the users reside in developing countries. This skew in the network also exhibits itself as exorbitantly high prices of connectivity in under-developed countries.
Development of Internet infrastructure in these countries, will enable individuals to take more control of their access to the internet. It will also ensure that the services they use are more readily available, at a fraction of the current price. A decentralised internet would give these developing countries the needed agency, and therefore enable them to access the Internet with ease.
It is not easy to imagine how a world with ubiquitous connectivity and decentralised internet would look like, but it is even more complicated to realise such a system. The system itself will have to encompass the whole world, while also ensuring practical services for its users. The fact that humans are so unevenly distributed on the planet makes things harder. Currently submarine cables take care of almost all the network requirements of the planet. However, the most popular way ahead is to rise above our surfacial, 2D limitation, and resolve the problem in the third dimension.
The solution, if orchestrated as planned, would be a composite of cable-based internet and space-based internet. The cable-internet will ensure connectivity in regions of higher user-population, while the space-internet will provide full-time coverage to regions currently devoid of it. The dawn of connectivity in these regions will lead to steady decentralisation of the internet infrastructure. Over time, this system will emerge as not just a means to connect with people, but a means to develop a nation.
A normal person might see the whole frontier of ubiquitous connectivity limited to just its financial prospects. When they hear ‘Decentralised Internet’, they probably relate it with the fictional PiperNet from Silicon Valley. Though we are still very far from truly decentralised internet at all the layers of the network, ubiquitous connectivity is much closer to realisation. Initiatives like SpaceNet (Astrome), Starlink (SpaceX), OneWeb, TeleSat and now Kuiper (Amazon) are pushing that boundary every day, and it is only so long after they are successful in their endeavor.
TG,
Astrome Space Technologies
www.astrome.io
