Describe how communication infrastructures are an integral part of international commerce.
An underpinning of all commerce is effective communications—knowledge of where goods and services exist and where they are needed and the ability to communicate instantaneously across vast distances. Continuous improvements in electronic communications have facilitated the expansion of trade. First came the telegraph, then the telephone, television, satellites, mobile phones, the computer, the Internet, and combinations of them all.
Each revolution in technology has had a profound effect on human conditions, economic growth, and the manner in which commerce functions. Each new communications technology has spawned new business models; some existing businesses have reinvented their practices to adapt to the new technology, while other businesses have failed to respond and thus ceased to exist.
The Internet and mobile phone revolutions will be no different; they too affect human conditions, economic growth, and the manner in which commerce operates.
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