ary, what policy modification is needed. Why Broadband Telecommunications? The second half of the 20th century witnessed the evolution of the information communication technology (ICT) industry. The industry grew from serving niche applications to becoming a vital tool in helping to improve and even facilitate government and business operations and processes. Early ICT systems were standalone computers which were mainly used in process automation and number-crunching applications. ICT systems have since evolved to faci- litate not only automation, but also facilitate connectivity between suppliers and customers in business value chains. Information gathering from customers and suppliers is possible on an unprecedented scale. Furthermore, information gathering from ubiqui- tous sensor networks is forecast to become a major source of data collection in the future. Information SO gathered is being used to obtain business intelligence to further enhance operational efficiency and to control business functions. Because of these developments, the ICT industry is now one of the most important sectors of the world economy, and employs an increasingly large number of technology and managerial ICT professionals. Figure 1.4 shows the employment trends in the ICT industry for 1995 and 2010 and how the share of ICT jobs in the economies of Canada, USA, Australia and the EU has grown. Note that this is a narrow definition which only considers ICT specialists as those, 'who have the capabilities to develop, operate and maintain ICT systems. ICT Canada Australia Figure 1.4 Sample job number growth within the ICT industry. Reproduced with permission of Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OCED) Broadband Telecommunications Technologies and Management Information Information Information (data) Information collection processing and analysis dissemination storage and creation Figure 1.5 Information flow model constitutes the main part of their job'. It does not include workers who use ICT products in their everyda