m of consumer expenditure. Furthermore, housing prices are related to proximity to work, and SO commuting distances are inversely proportional to housing prices, introducing scarcity rents, which may in the future drive telecommunications demand if telecommuting is possible for some days of the week. Coupled with this in commuting economies is the price of oil. 28 Acceptance by consumers of residence further from centres of work has been driven by lower house prices as long as workers could afford the commute cost. For instance, in the United States, for the extensions of suburbs ("exurbs") commutes of 100 miles per day and more are common. In October 2005 in the United States, as fuel prices reached USD 3 a gallon, the price of a 100 mile commute in a typical American vehicle with combined cycle of 16 mpg rose from USD 231/month in October 2003 to USD 407/month. 29 However this fuel price is approximately only 38% of the price in a European OECD member state such as the United Kingdom. Any solution in teleworking of some form would offer relief - the combination of housing and fuel prices will tend to drive telecommunications. Alternative public transport solutions are not a choice, as they do not exist for many countries. 3. Projected trends in demand for telecoms and investment to 2030 This section examines projected trends in demand that will change infrastructure investment. It draws on results and projections of various studies from a wide range of sources, including the World Bank, the European Commission, the OECD and the International Telecommunication Union. Accessibility, fixed to mobile convergence and mobile dominance Throughout the development of mass technologies, less accessible services have been replaced by more accessible ones. 31 In the transport world, canals in the 18th and 19th centuries were seen as the main transport mode INFRASTRUCTURE TO 2030: TELECOM, LAND TRANSPORT, WATER AND ELECTRICITY - ISBN 92-64-02398-4 © OECD 2006 2. TELECOMS INFRASTRUCTURE TO 2030 in a time when roads were ofte