issions. There are equally strong counterarguments to suggest this would not happen and that other positive metrics would outweigh any related carbon risk. Economic growth and a low carbon economy do not need to be mutually exclusive. Note also that survival economies are not geographically specific and can be found within developed and emerging economies. Over 70 million Americans do not have a bank account. 12.8 The New Wireless Economy in a New Political Age? The present political enthusiasm for broadband connectivity investment may be misplaced and is certainly too rooted in nationalistic competitive ambition. In a closely coupled global economy, future profits and business opportunity will be dependent on how well emerging countries perform and how fast survival economies can become emerging economies. Fortu- itously, it would appear that mobile phones and mobile networks are important and perhaps essential to this transformation process. We may be witnessing the birth of a new age of truly international growth and prosperity with the telecoms industry as a facilitator of global social, political and economic progress - the new wireless telecom economy. The fact that telecommunications networks have reinvented themselves as information networks does not alter this fundamental truth but should reassure us that the telecommunications industry continues to have a socially and economically profitable purpose in both emerging and fully developed economies. The argument therefore is that narrowband access to survival economies should take prece- dence over broadband investment in developed economies. This would not be naive altruism but a pragmatic way to maximise the social and economic dividend from global connectivity investment. Present broadband investment proposals in developed economies are justified on the basis of delivering nationalistic competitive advantage. This creates additional distance between the rich and poor on the planet, an unsustainable model for future global growth. Access technologies, fi