3.1C Communication technology

• ICT development has reduced communication costs and increased global flow of communication
• Mobile phones =

  • With smart phones, smart tablets and smart watches in the 2000s extended they information flows to locations beyond landline networks. 
  • Reduced mobile phone costs expanded usage from an expensive business tool to an ubiquitous consumer product. 
  • Used even in countries with a lack of communications infrastructure. By 2015, 70% of people in Africa owned a mobile phone. (M-PESA)
• Internet =

  • Internet access became common from the mid 1990s, followed by fast broadband. 
  • Close to 50% of the world's population uses internet. 
  • Broadband internet in the 1980s and 90s meant that large amounts of data could be moved quickly through cyberspace.
• Social networks =

  • Social networks and Skype allow people to communicate instantly and without charge
  • Social media enabled much cheaper communication between friends and family than landline telephone. 
  • Skype has allowed cheap, direct, face-to-face communication, allowing migrants to maintain stronger bonds with their distant family. 
• Economic banking =

  • The rise of mobile phones means they can be used for economic banking, revolutionising life for individuals and businesses. In Kenya (M-PESA)
  • Electronic banking extends capital flows beyond the physical banking network
  • allows migrants to transmit remittances of money back to their home countries.