An article by Srini Gopalan, Member of the Board of Management Deutsche Telekom AG for Europe.
Nowadays, there isn’t a single organization, economic think-tank, policy-making body and more, not concerned with digitalization and its impact. And rightfully so. Because digital transformation goes far beyond technology. Far beyond “business as usual”. It’s disrupting existing business models and changing our daily lives in ways inconceivable ten years ago.
According to a study by the World Economic Forum and Accenture, the estimate of potential value created for society (to 2025) from the digital transformation of four key-industries (automotive, consumer, electricity and logistics) is over 12.7 trillion US-dollar. We, as telco operators, have our share of responsibility to lead the debate and amplify the ways in which digitalization can make a positive contribution to societies.
This is a topic I often address, whether talking to customers, colleagues, public bodies’ representatives across Europe. Recently I did so at the T-Systems Hungary Symposium, a big ICT event for the CEE region, where I gave a couple of examples from my latest trip to Asia, made together with fellow Deutsche Telekom Board Members and executives.
Investing in people’s digital skills is important
Technology and digitalization are allowing societies to leapfrog; move towards industry 4.0 in the manufacturing world, towards information-based value-addition economies. To this end, building an industrial-scale, high-speed broadband infrastructure, in both mobile and fixed, is key. But investing in people’s digital skills is equally important. South Korea is a great example for this. Over the last two years the country has been named the world's most innovative economy according to the Bloomberg Innovation Index. It has an incredible density of infrastructure, while the local government is making a concerted effort to improve the digital skills of the country’s workforce.
Artificial Intelligence "made in China"
China is becoming the world’s newest economic superpower, cutting the tag "Made in China" from the perception of cheap, low-quality electronics towards a world leader in cutting-edge technology. To achieve this, artificial intelligence (AI) in China is getting big, on a near unimaginable scale. Alibaba, the world's largest e-commerce marketplace with 248 billion US-dollar in transactions, is using AI to control cities via a cloud-based system where data about a city and its citizens is stored and processed through AI algorithms. Scary scenario or not to our liking? Even if we shut our eyes, it still exists today ...
Meanwhile, ahead of 5G, which requires huge scale to build and roll-out, China is discussing if all three major Chinese telecom operators are needed. Back to Europe, in a delicate balancing act between efficiency gains versus any possible market-power effects, watchdogs are still concerned with whether there exists a “magic number” of telecom operators.
All over the world digitalization is transforming societies
But let’s look in our own backyard too: According to the Digital Economy and Society Index (DESI 2018), Finland is second across 28 EU Member States on the integration of digital technology. One in two Finnish companies uses cloud services. Finland aims to lead in AI, while the government allocated 400 millions euros to support digital projects run by the country’s local authorities.
Israel is yet another great e-government case. For example, approximately 275 million dollars is invested into digitizing the citizens’ personal health records to help develop new medicines. On top, it is also a “start-up nation”. It has the largest number of start-ups per capita in the world; around one start-up for every 1,400 people.
All over the world digitalization is transforming societies. These, and many more cases, highlight the positive impact that digital transformation has towards businesses, economies and societies alike. We, as Deutsche Telekom Group, are an active partner in this transformation, with our infrastructure, international expertise and digital know-how to the benefit of all.
