Services

Most people agree that social services and education should be the first points to cover when digital cities becomes a de facto standard.

Andy Brauer, chief technology officer for Business Connexion, says: "The average man on the street stands to benefit most from these developments. If service delivery is a the focus area this could be a real way of addressing education, training and skills development issues through access to'Virtual Library or Knowledge Centers in areas which are under developed. Alternatively, service delivery could include partnerships in order to provide larger service offerings to the larger communities."

"In terms of services we must see this as several phases. But the potential is there for an array of services, including municipal information channels, IPTV, voice, emergency'assistance and even municipal digital subscriber lines."

Bacher says: "Children's education and teaching should be the first priority for government when access is established through the digital cities initiative."