Previous page... Sufficient bandwidth?
Commoditization of bandwidth: The commoditization of bandwidth as a concept is not new. It is at the core of debate about the future supply and demand for global communications, and also of the business plans of numerous web-based matchmaking services for bandwidth buyers and sellers. Many proponents like to draw parallels to energy markets as justification for their predictions for commoditization of bandwidth.
There are numerous entities that merely trade in power/ energy without having any significant production capacity of their own. Depending upon the supply/ demand situation in the sector, capacities can be seamlessly switched or diverted, and even the transfer pricing mechanism is in place to enable this sort of trade. There are two principal arguments put forward to draw parallels between the developments in the energy sector and the bandwidth scenario:
Opening up of the telecom sector following similar moves in the power sector; entrance of private sector operators in both these sectors.
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In power, the introduction of efficient gas turbines made possible the economic production of power for peak production times; in telecom, IP has emerged as a convergence layer joining voice and data for more efficient transport.
Next page... Trading mechanism
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