Internet Service Providers' Association

ISPA Press Release - Successful 2010 Soccer World Cup Hinges on Pervasive Internet - 23 August 2006

Opinion Article by Professor Michael Rotert, President, EuroISPA

[back to iWeek press page]

The FIFA Soccer World Cup 2006 in Germany is a distant memory and football fans the world over are firmly back at the grindstone after a few lenient weeks.

However, for the people at the Southern tip of Africa, the end is simply the beginning as they prepare for their 15 minutes of fame on the world football stage four years from now.

As a German, the disappointment of the host nation not winning the World Cup is nothing compared to the joy of gaining so many new friends around the globe who felt welcome in our country and well taken care of.

I am sure that the South African organisers of the 2010 World Cup will have learnt many lessons from the German experience, especially when it comes to the provision of technology and infrastructure.

Two vivid memories stand out from the way Germany hosted soccers greatest get-together.

One is the magic of public viewing where soccer fans gathered around huge screens to watch the games. Locals and welcome foreigners gathered in front of these screens in nearly every German town to watch the action when they could either not afford to attend the games in person or when tickets were unavailable.

The other memory is of a much smaller group of people sitting in front of a notebook screen in the middle of a public park where they where able to watch one of the games via wireless Internet access.

Both services deal with the provision of real time multimedia content, one on a fixed local base and the other on a global multinational basis. Let me look into the future and the role the Internet can play in these environments.

Four years from now there will definitely be many new technologies and services available globally judging by the speed of development currently.

In many world cities, there will be free public wireless access within trains, airplanes and perhaps even within buses. Soccer World Cup guests in South Africa will probably not have to worry about vouchers or costs to access the Internet via their notebook, MDA-device, mobile phone or even via their camera because WLAN access could well be public and free in four years time.

For those 2010 guests who wont be able to travel with one of the above devices numerous Internet Cafes will be available. Hopefully, debate about bandwidth and download speeds for multimedia applications will be a thing of the past in South Africa.

Most of what I have referred to exists in at least some parts of the world already and it would certainly be a good idea for the organisers to have at least free public WLAN access during the 2010 games.

There are also developments in this area which can bring real local-based services via hotspots down to the user and this will be more than just using one of the already existing maps with local information from large providers.

Examples could be webcams focused on the queues in front of stadiums or on the availability of parking spaces. Of course there has to be a certain minimum network speed or bandwidth for these services but this is rather something for regulatory authorities and not only a question of technology.

It would have been wonderful if Germany could have had this kind of wireless environment when we hosted the Soccer World Cup and there certainly is an opportunity for South Africas World Cup organizers to provide all these services in 2010 and the global community will love you for it!

Meanwhile, persons interested in the future of the Internet in South Africa and overseas should consider attending iWeek 2006 (http://www.ispa.org.za/iweek/2006/) from 4 - 7 September 2006 at the Castle in Kyalami where the Internet Service Providers' Association (ISPA) (http://www.ispa.org.za) and UniForum SA (http://www.coza.net.za) will host a series of presentations, workshops and social events.

You will discover at iWeek that I am not being unrealistic suggesting that the services I describe can indeed be available in four years time.

END

Professor Michael Rotert is the President of EuroISPA, the organisation that represents Europes Internet service provider industry. EuroISPA is the worlds largest association of ISPs.

Prof. Rotert is a prominent figure in the ISP sector and will be speaking at iWeek 2006. His work at the University of Karlsruhe in the 1980s established the first connection from Germany to the Internet; after setting up one of the first ISPs in Germany, he has since held senior management posts with a number of prominent European ISPs.

Prof. Rotert became the President of the German ISP association in 2000 and was elected EuroISPA President in 2003.

Prof. Michael Rotert

michael (at) rotert.de | president (at) euroispa.org