), but they also may be made obsolete by optical scanners and voice recognition technology that can transform hard copy and spoken words into digitized text. Some countries and enterprises may together be able to use telecommunications to create a competitive advantage at the other end of the information work continuum. India has built software development parks equipped with satellite uplinks, so that foreign high tech companies can hire Indian engineers and programmers at a fraction of the cost of expanding its professional workforce in the United States, and India can retain professionals who might otherwise join its massive brain drain. Just as North American and European laborers complained in the 1980s about the growth of offshore manufacturing, highly skilled information workers in Silicon Valley now fear losing their jobs to lower paid offshore professionals. As demand for these services grows, users will need access to more bandwidth to speed searches, download software, and transmit video and graphics. Some telecommunications companies, such as AT&T and MCI, are becoming Internet service providers, concluding that the Internet must be viewed as an opportunity rather than a threat. Others fear that the Internet will steal traffic, as users opt for flat rate voice and video transmissions rather than paying for time or bits. Traditional telephone companies will have to respond to the demand for new and cheaper services as an opportunity rather than a threat if they are to survive. Rather than local monopolies providing telephone services over copper wires, in many countries we may find cable television companies, electric utilities and wireless operators competing with telephone companies to reach the end user, offering a combination of voice, data, and video services. Toward global information infrastructure (Gill)These technological and economic trends have led policy makers to call for the construction of "information highways...
