on a broadband debate but to take a broader view of the role that telecommunications and the telecommunications industry can play in developed and developing economies. Developed economies often have legacy telecommunications R and D and manufacturing investment that should be nurtured and nourished as a national resource. Telecommunications R and D and manufacturing in these countries is not the problem but the solution to the problem. Emerging economies do not have this advantage but have the potential to make rapid economic progress with telecommunications as the essential facilitator - a telecommunications economy rather than a broadband economy. They can and do insist on in-country R and D and manufacturing as a precondition for overseas companies wishing to do business in the country. The Digital Britain Report referenced earlier justified broadband investment as a precondition for economic and social progress. The thinking in the report reflected a global debate on the contribution that broadband connectivity is expected to make to developed and emerging economies. Irrespective of whether broadband is delivered over fibre, cable, copper or wireless or any mix of these, it comes with a high price attached. From an industrial policy perspective, the provision of broadband connectivity is an obvious business opportunity but only if the technol- ogy and engineering economics make sense. If the technology and engineering economics do not make sense it becomes an expensive obligation. The issue of course is whether wireless is more or less economically efficient as a delivery platform when compared with other options including fibre to the curb and fibre to the home. This is in turn dependent on the definition of broadband, both in terms of average and peak data rates and contention ratios, the demographics and topology of the country into which broadband is being deployed and the efficiency with which wireless is integrated technically and commercially with other delivery options. Making Telecoms Work Forexampl