Telecommunications Technology in Metropolitan Areas

The electronic communication technology available today offers the possibility of changing many patterns of information transfer in urban areas. There are three major trends which are converging to make this change possible. These are: 1) the technology to permit wideband information transfer manifested in the existing 2300/CATV/Cable System and in modification of the Bell network for wideband services; 2) the potential demand for a vast range of new services to persons operating in the urban areas; 3) the increasing demands for meeting mobile information transfer needs in the urban areas through radio systems operating in the 100 to 1000 MHz part of the spectrum. The extent to which these trends are allowed to converge will be a function of the quality of telecommunication policy formulation and execution. In order to formulate policy, it is necessary to have a vision of the future toward which to work. This paper will discuss the types of services possible with the technology presently available, which will have impact on future policy decisions.