On this day

In 1878 Alexander Graham Bell demonstrated the telephone for Britain's Queen Victoria.

Telecommunications have been a great driver in economic growth. When I worked on a consulting project in India in the mid 90's there was a World Bank report doing the rounds that claimed for every $ spent on telecommunications it generated $2 in the economy.

Now of course we have the mobile phone which has become far more than just a means of making voice calls. With the advent of 3G it is possible to have a semi reasonable internet browsing experience but mobile Internet will really take off in the next couple of years with new 4G technologies such as WiMAX