Telecoms in Britain is a growth priority for the UK Government. That’s not my opinion, that’s a stated fact in a new report highlighting the 15 top technologies that will drive growth, improving British society and business in the next ten years. The study claims telecoms could be worth up to £70 billion (around 0.73% of UK GDP growth). That’s great, but as I sit here, we are less than two years from the (already extended) PSTN switch-off and many organizations are panicking about how they are going to fund switching over from 150 year old technology, never mind be part of a glorious future.
Let’s start with the positive though. The report, written by PwC and called The Wider Economic Impacts of Emerging Technologies, offers timely insight into how the technologies shaping tomorrow’s economy are already influencing today’s business decisions. Among the 15 technology categories assessed, telecoms plays a unique and yet underappreciated role. It may not be seen as the flashiest innovation on the list, but its transformative potential is significant, particularly for enterprise IT leaders navigating an era of converging platforms, AI-driven customer expectations, and budget constraints.
