The future of Internet

The Future of Internet

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The Internet world as we know it today has undergone far-reaching changes since its early days while becoming a critical communications infrastructure underpinning our economic performance and social welfare.

With more than 1 billion users world-wide today the Internet is poised to become a fully pervasive infrastructure providing anywhere, anytime connectivity. With the further deployment of wireless technologies, the number of users of the Internet is expected to jump to some 4 billion in a matter of few years.

As the Internet extends its reach and serves an ever growing population of users and intelligent devices, new innovative services are introduced, demanding an environment which supports innovation, creativity and economic growth.
"We need to strike the right balance between different interests as the Internet expands and deepens its role in our lives. To this end, the European Commission will contribute to the 5 priorities identified by the Internet Governance Forum: openness, security, access, diversity and critical Internet resources."
Viviane Reding
Member of the European Commission responsible for Information Society and Media
Read/listen to the full speech of Commissioner Reding on the Future of the Internet