Broadband’s killer app is right under our noses

(Oct. 2024) What’s the one thing broadband gives us that we just can’t live without?

High-speed video downloads? Fixed-wireless access?

As it turns out, broadband’s killer app isn’t a product or service. It’s a trait – a characteristic that allows other technologies to emerge and thrive.

“Reliability may become the killer app for broadband,” says Martin Creaner, Director General of the World Broadband Association. “There's never been a shortage of ideas for what to do with bandwidth if it's reliable.

In an interview with Huawei Editor-in-Chief Gavin Allen, Creaner points out that offering higher speeds and greater reliability paves the way for a whole array of potential applications.

“In manufacturing, it’s high-resolution monitoring of individual processes by 4K video cameras, streamed in real time,” Creaner said. “In healthcare, everything from remote [diagnostic] services to robotic surgery…and other types of healthcare scenarios, such as X-rays or MRIs looked at in real time by AI.”

Creaner continued, “In the home, it's about entertainment, gaming, and home security services. It's not just the demand for any individual service, but the aggregated demand for dozens, if not hundreds of services. That’s what gives you the requirement for high-speed broadband."

Creaner says this push for broadband connectivity will be seen especially in the developing world. “They're realizing they have to take a step back and start putting in a core infrastructure, a fixed-line fiber network. If it's not in place, they're going to find themselves in a dead end.”