The phone companies that survive will become cellular phone companies. “Anyone, Anywhere, Anytime” is a good motto for a 21st century phone company. There will be flat rates for so-called “long-distance.” Any nation or PTT which tries to cling to current long-distance telephony billing practices will see their economy destroyed by others with more enlightened policies.
Predictor: Sterling, Bruce
Prediction, in context:A 1995 e-mail interview with science fiction writer and cyberspace commentator Bruce Sterling for Telecommunications International included the following exchange: TI: “What would be your thumbnail sketch of the year 2020 in the communications industry? An era when communications will be very cheap – but not accessible, perhaps?” Sterling: ” [He mentions cheap, huge, flat-screen TVs on which you can receive any program for a fee, then adds] … The phone companies that survive will become cellular phone companies. ‘Anyone, Anywhere, Anytime’ is a good motto for a 21st century phone company. There will be flat rates for so-called ‘long-distance.’ Any nation or PTT which tries to cling to current long-distance telephony billing practices will see their economy destroyed by others with more enlightened policies. The phone companies are magnificent entities in many ways, but they have a vested interest in the ignorance of their consumer base. This was survivable in a conventional industrial society in which the customers were poorly educated and had no other choice. Its a fatal error in a post-industrial information society. There are people around in younger and faster-paced industries who know that their customers aren’t stupid and who are making it their business to cater to the demands of the new knowledge class.”
Biography:Bruce Sterling, a writer, consultant and science fiction enthusiast, wrote or co-wrote “Schismatrix,” “The Hacker Crackdown” and “The Difference Engine” and edited “Mirrorshades: The Cyberpunk Anthology.” In the 1990s, he wrote tech articles for Fortune, Harper’s, Details, Whole Earth Review and Wired, where he was a contributing writer from its founding. He published the nonfiction book “Tomorrow Now: Envisioning the Next Fifty Years” in 2002. (Author/Editor/Journalist.)
Date of prediction: September 1, 1995
Topic of prediction: Communication
Subtopic: Internet Telephony
Name of publication: Telecommunications International
Title, headline, chapter name: Dropping Anchor in Cyberspace
Quote Type: Direct quote
Page number or URL of document at time of study:
Vol. 29, Issue 9, Page 115 ISSN: 00402494
This data was logged into the Elon/Pew Predictions Database by: Anderson, Janna Quitney