This is the result of the development of information and communications technologies. Digital technologies, in particular, have made it possible to combine transmission of information, sound, text and images in a single high-performance system.
This will have far-reaching effects on production structures and methods. It will spell changes in the way companies are organized, in managers' responsibilities and in relations with workers. Small businesses will benefit most: the new communication services will enable them to make savings of, on average, 4% of their turnover; they will also be very much in evidence on the major markets opening up. Working conditions will be transformed by the greater flexibility possible with regard to working hours, the place of work itself (teleworking) and, inevitably, terms of contract and pay systems. According to some estimates, six million Americans already work at home. New data transmission systems will enable companies to globalize their activities and strategies, forging forms of partnership and cooperation on a scale never possible before.
The need for physical mobility will be reduced by the availability of products and services combining the advantages of mass production with consumers' specific, and even individual, requirements. A new, far richer range of novel services in the form of information, access to databases, audiovisual, cultural and leisure facilities will be opened up to everyone. More specifically, it will be possible to gain access to general information directly, without any complicated technology, via a portable computer connected, if need be, to a television set or telephone.
It will be possible to make the services provided by the public authorities faster, more selective and less impersonal, provided measures are taken to safeguard privacy. Certain services in which the public authorities have traditionally played a leading role (health, education, social security, etc.) could be provided far more widely, rapidly and effectively. Market forces will be able to play a greater part. Doctors, teachers and students will have instant access to vast databases.
Some aspects of this new society are already being put into place; many people are beginning to reap the benefit. Naturally, these changes will be led by the Triad powers first, but will gradually extend to the rest of the planet. They will be dictated, above all, by the needs of the users, both companies and consumers alike. Industry is already beginning to adapt to these new prospects. Large-scale reorganizations are in train. They are making the traditional distinctions, for example between electronics, information technology, telecommunications and the audiovisual sectors, increasingly obsolete. They are blurring the borderlines between the secondary and tertiary sectors, between industry and services. They are transforming the balance of power in industry: the capitalization of Nintendo, the video game maker, is already one third of IBM's and its turnover is almost twice that of Microsoft, the leading software producer. This process has already started in the USA, where it is giving birth to unprecedented partnerships and mergers between companies. It will gain ground in Europe. It is forcing the public authorities to review the regulatory framework.
Rapid dissemination of new information technologies can certainly speed up the transfer of certain manufacturing activities to countries with distinctly lower labour costs.
We are witnessing rationalization of the services sector. However, the enormous potential for new services relating to production, consumption, culture and leisure activities will create jobs.
For example, the services generated by Minitel in France have created over 350 000 jobs. The foreseeable growth in the number of audiovisual services will considerably increase the demand for new programmes. By the turn of the century there should be ten times as many television channels as now and three times the number of subscribers to cable networks.
In any event, it would be fruitless to become embroiled in a fresh dispute about the "machine age", as was the case with the first industrial revolution. Worldwide dissemination of new technologies is inevitable.
Above all, these changes have been brought about by market pressure and companies' own initiative. The government decisions taken in the USA and Japan aim at organizing and speeding up the process, by supporting companies' efforts. The emphasis has been on establishment of the basic infrastructure and support for new applications and technological development. The US programme to establish the "National Information Infrastructure" provides for a total investment of ECU 85 billion.
Compared with its leading competitors, Europe holds comparative advantages from the cultural, social, technological and industrial points of views. Since 1 January 1993 its market has been largely integrated, although too many monopolies and too much overregulation persist. Interoperability has not yet been achieved.
Already, the States which have taken the lead with deregulation have the fastest growing markets and falling consumer prices.
The action plan is based on five priorities:
The keys to the success of this plan are to define the measures clearly, to specify a timetable and to put in place the resources. It is proposed that a Task Force on European Information Infrastructures be established with a direct mandate from the European Council. This Task Force will have the job of establishing priorities, deciding on procedures and defining the resources required. It should report to the President of the European Council by 31 March 1994 so that the plan can be put into action by mid-1994 after consultation with the parties concerned and the approval of the European Council.
We already have motorways for the transport of people and goods. The number of lanes they have depends on traffic density.
The information society too will have:
Europe's telephone networks are already international, but the digital networks for carrying information in the form of text, data or images are mainly being developed on a purely national basis.
Such an approach is essential to stimulate the creation of new markets. New projects must be undertaken rapidly and resolutely in order to break the vicious circle perpetuated by the weaknesses on both the demand and supply sides.
To this end, the eight strategic projects listed in the Annex are proposed.
They cover physical networks, services and applications alike.
This infrastructure is necessary for the development of multimedia services. It would use the most advanced data transmission technologies (optical fibre) and fully capitalize on the digitization and high-speed transfer of information (high definition, interactive and multifunction systems).
This would extend the integrated services digital networks to be established throughout the Community by the year 2000.
These services are necessary for diversification of the applications on a given infrastructure network:
At the moment, the Council of Ministers and the European Parliament are continuing their discussions on the development of data communications (IDA) networks. In the autumn the Commission submitted two proposals on telecommunications networks containing a series of guidelines (master plan) on the integrated services digital network (ISDN) and broadband networks.
The estimated funding needed over the next ten years will be ECU 150 billion. Some ECU 67 billion will be needed between 1994 and 1999 for the priority projects selected. They will be covered mainly by private investors. Financial support from the national and Community authorities will play a marginal role to provide an incentive, as with other networks.
The Community could provide ECU 5 billion over the entire period from its budget for networks, from the Structural Funds and, in particular, from the research programme.
This assistance could be supplemented by EIB loans and European Investment Fund guarantees and the new financial mechanisms described in the Annex.
Information Highways Target area for Required 1994-1999
investment Projects (billion ecus)
Interconnected - establishment of 20
advanced networks high-speed
communication
network
- consolidation of 15
integrated services
digital network
General electronic - electronic access to 1
services information
- electronic mail 1
- electronic images: 10
interactive video
services
Telematic applications - teleworking 3
- links between 7
administrations
- teletraining 3
- telemedicine 7
TOTAL 67