Living in the Old World

U.S. travelers to Chinese cities like Beijing and Shanghai (pictured above) are often stunned at the pervasive explosion of ultra-modern skyscrapers and other architecturally cutting edge buildings… far more than the new arenas showcased at the Beijing Summer Olympics. Unlike the super-modern core cities newly-constructed in smaller venues like those found in troubled Bahrain, the China mega-models are even more impressive because the new construction is so vast and overwhelming, stretching for miles in any direction, as far as the eye can see. Charm – like the famous back alley “Hutongs” in Beijing – is vaporizing, and modernity is being erected in its place. Los Angeles and Seattle seem so old-world by comparison.

But what the eye sees is nothing compared to the technology infrastructure being layered into the big cities all over “Tiger-growth” Asia. Despite censorship issues (and recent evidence of how that technology can bring down entire political systems), Internet connectivity is pervasive, with a reach of high speed Internet in cities like Beijing squeezing close to 100%. In some countries, notably South Korea, their famous 95%+ very high speed access to the entire nation, rural and urban, isn’t nearly enough; they want more. With Internet connectivity speed of 100 megabits per second, the average South Korean household has access that is a multiple of what the average American with high speed access can claim, all at an average monthly cost of $38/month (Americans pay an average of $46/month for slower access). But that’s mostly old world DSL, and South Korea has begun an ambitious campaign of upgrading those DSL lines and replacing them with fiber optic links instead.

South Korea wants its citizens to multiply their accessible bandwidth speed by at least tenfold – to a pure gigabit+ per second delivery system (which is twenty times faster than what the average U.S. high speed user receives) – enabling everything from the most elegant and connective Internet system on earth to 3D television over the same wires. The U.S. is still talking about “reach” while many Asian nations have that reach and are now talking about explosive growth in bandwidth capacity.

South Korea’s Internet is the stuff that challenges the U.S. President at a time when he faces political pressures to stop federal spending, most definitely his efforts to grow high speed access for all Americans: “‘South Korean homes now have greater Internet access than we do,’ President Obama said in his State of the Union address last month… [Recently,] Mr. Obama unveiled an $18.7 billion broadband spending program… While Americans are clip-clopping along, trailing the Latvians and the Romanians in terms of Internet speed, the South Koreans are at a full gallop. Their average Internet connections are far faster than even No. 2 Hong Kong and No. 3 Japan, according to the Internet analyst Akamai Technologies.” New York Times, February 21^st.

The most amazing part of this story of explosive growth is how fast it has been implemented. I remember meeting with the Vice-Mayor of Pudong – Shanghai’s companion city across the river – in the early 1990s. From his not-so-tall older office, his arm gestured with a sweep as he promised to build 88 (“double prosperity” in Chinese numerology) new mega-office and residential towers within the decade. I was polite, but my eyes rolled figuratively in my head. He and I were both wrong; there were many more new building within that decade than a mere 88. Korea’s Internet expectations mirror that ambitious tone.

“Overseeing South Korea’s audacious expansion plan is Choi Gwang-gi, 28, a soft-spoken engineer. He hardly looks the part of a visionary or a revolutionary as he pads around his government-gray office in vinyl slippers… ‘A lot of Koreans are early adopters,’ Mr. Choi said, ‘and we thought we needed to be prepared for things like 3-D TV, Internet protocol TV, high-definition multimedia, gaming and videoconferencing, ultra-high-definition TV, cloud computing.’ … South Korea, once poorer than Communist North Korea, now has the world’s 13th-largest economy. It recovered from the ravages of the Korean War by yoking its economy to heavy industries like cars, steel, shipbuilding and construction. But when labor costs began to rise, competing globally in those sectors got tougher, so ‘knowledge-based industries were the way forward,’ Mr. Choi said.” NY Times. Pricing will be vastly less than the $70/month charged in Japan for comparable service, and massive multi-player online gamers (such games are now a national pastime) are celebrating in the streets.

The message for the United States is clear; modernize, educate or get out of the way for your replacements. Meat-axe budget reductions – popular now – will eventually extract a price in our ability to compete globally. But we seem to be headed there as we struggle to pay for our past consumption – particularly in public sector retirement programs and servicing our national debt. Oh, did I mention, Mr. Choi’s expansion program also comes with a tenfold increase in wireless bandwidth. There’s a nasty vision coming up in America’s rear-view mirror.

I’m Peter Dekom, and investing in our future despite budgetary pressures is a must, if we expect to have a future of which we will be proud and satisfied.