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By ChiOnwurah MP@ChiOnwurah - 8th June 2011
The internet has already revolutionised our lives, but Chi Onwurah outlines why the government should look to the future and invest in machine-to-machine communication.
I think this will be the first time the subject of machine-to-machine communications will have been raised in the House. Interestingly, the first mention of the internet in the House was in February 1990, by then Conservative MP Emma Nicholson in a debate on the Computer Misuse Bill. At that time only three million people worldwide had access to the internet, mainly academics and the military, 73 per cent of them living in the United States.
Twenty-one years later, there are estimated to be two billion regular internet users, only 13 per cent in the US, 44 per cent in Asia.
And that figure is set to grow. The internet has revolutionised our lives. Machine-to-machine communications (M2M) are the next stage in this revolution. M2M will enable what is called the internet of 'things' where machines, as well as people, connect to each other. Ericsson estimates that by 2020 there will be 50 billion 'things' connected to the internet. Other analysts put the ultimate figure for connected devices in the trillions.
Mostly these will be monitors and sensors – for example, in lamp-posts, so they know when to switch off; in salmon, so that we can track their response to global warming; in rivers and wetlands to monitor the state of our environment; in bridges, checking for cracks; in transported goods, to reduce theft; in electricity meters so we can save energy; in credit cards so that we can have contactless payment; in fridges, so that they can automatically order more vegetables for us; and even in our bodies if we are unwell and may need medical assistance.
The internet of things should help take the dull and the difficult out of our lives.
The question for this debate is: is this government doing all it can to ensure the UK economy benefits from this trillion-pound market of the future?
And particularly, why are we not seeing radio spectrum made available on a licence-free basis – as was recently done in the US – so UK companies large and small can get on with the job of innovating in this hugely important area and making sure we all reap the rewards?
Chi Onwurahis MP for Newcastle upon Tyne. Elected in May 2010, Onwurah soon became shadow minister for business innovation and skills. An electrical engineer by trade, prior to becoming an MP she was head of telecoms technology at OFCOM
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