Digitalization

Answer

Introduction
Digitalization of life is one of the latest devotion to be witnessed all over the world. The emergence of mobile phone technology in particular has reduced the world into a global village. With further innovation on mobile phone technologies, like smart phones like iPhones, Apples, the Galaxies series, communication has been made faster, cheaper, more effective and reliable. With the current generation of mobile phone and internet technologies, the world populations have adopted e-learning, e-commerce, e-research, e-entertainment and IT domains in attempts to make like better (Broadband Commission, 2018). This assignment focuses on analysis of the milestones of telephone revolution in USA in comparison to Canada. The analysis identifies the over the period between 2005 and 2010.
Mobile phone subscription in the United States has tremendously grown. According to (), the present mobile phone subscription penetration in the country stands at 122.01%. Figure 1 below shows the trend of mobile phone subscription between 2000 and 2017 for 100 inhabitants in the USA and in Canada. From the figure, in 2005, there were 69.021 mobile phone subscribers per 100 inhabitants. This translates to 69.02% subscription. In 2010, the subscription had grown to 92.378 per 100 inhabitants is equal to 93.26% penetration. In 2017, the growth sky rocketed to 122.012 per 100 people which implies that some people has more than one mobile phone (The Words Bank, 2018)

Figure 1: Mobile cellular subscriptions per 100 inhabitants in the United States and Canada from 2000 to 2017
Source: (The Words Bank, 2018)
In Canada, there 52.705 mobile phone subscribers per 100 inhabitants which translates to 52.705% subscription during the same time. However, in 2010, the subscription grew to 75.582%, that to say, 75.582 subscribers per 100 inhabitants as also shown in the figure above. In 2017, the growth had escalated to 85.896 subscribers per 100 inhabitants in Canada ()
.
Developments
Not much has been done to statistically explore the impacts on mobile phone revolution on a per capita and/or household basis, affordability, quality/speed of service, and how people use their phones. Nevertheless, there has been a significant influence of the revolution on GDP, quality of telecommunication services and how people use their mobile phones . According to Broadband Commission development of information technology has had direct and indirect impacts on economic growth in both Canada and USA. The provision of 3G and 4G network and data services through tablets, smartphones, and dongles have particularly improved certain domains of life like e-commerce, e-learning, research and entertainments (Broadband Commission, 2018)
.
Data analysis on penetration of mobile phone subscription in both developed and developing economies have revealed positive impacts on the economic growth. The analysis claims that for any given level of total mobile phone subscription penetration, a 10% substitution of 2G network and data service with 3g or 4G of the same, leads ton GDP per capita growth of 0.15% points particularly in the USA (Broadband Commission, 2018). It thus implies that more that 10% substitution of 2G network data service would lead to more growth on per capita GDP. Currently, 3G/4G is 91.69 available in the USA and generally, adoption has the same has gone above 75% which implies even higher impacts on the GDP. In Canada, the same network data service is 93.16% available and thus even more potential impacts on GDP per capita (Drum, 2018).
Huawei, the intensity of adoption of mobile phone technologies couples with the substitution of 2G network data service with 3G/4G network data service has created a digital economy which has had a substantial impact on the global economy. By 2016, the network of the global economy was about USD 11.5 trillion, accounting for about 25% of global GDP (Gupta, 2018). This magnitude of impacts is attributed to that fact that the digital economy has enabled the conducting of business through digital media which is predominantly new digital innovations, through smartphones, and more of new enabling technologies like 5G network data service. Broad band connectivity has made it easy and very possible to quickly connect with business associates, partners and stakeholder. Consequently, the cost of doing business has gone down.
Digital Economy on Quality of Life
Mobile phone technologies have tremendously and positively changed the lives of billions of the users across the globe. Due to drastically improving and advancing digital and mobile phone technologies, new business opportunities emerge some business are created, the digital economy is growing speedily, although not uniformly. Nevertheless, some mix-up caused by marketing hype1, new ITU estimations insinuate that by end of 2018, internet subscribers will go above 50/50 milestone for Internet use (Broadband Commission, 2018). Viewpoint 1 describes how access to broadband infrastructure can be extended to create an inclusive Information Society Although communication remains the core use of mobile phones, a lot of other servicers are currently offered particularly by smartphones. These services include:
Mobile Banking
Mobile banking is service provided by banks and other financial institutions that allows their customers to make financial transactions through their mobile phones or tablets from where they are. Dissimilar to other internet banking services it uses an application software, provided by the service provider for the purpose of making banking easy and more affordable (Onyango, & Kesa, 2018). Mobile banking is usually available on a 24-hour throughout the week basis therefore there are no limitation of timelines. Some financial institutions have restrictions on which accounts may be accessed through mobile banking, as well as a limit on the amount that can be transacted. Mobile banking is dependent on the, speed, and accessibility of an internet or data connection to the mobile phones or tablets (Drum, 2018)
.
Slightly more than half of the world population can easily reach traditional banking services. This is particularly true for rural populations across the globe. This problem has been solved by mobile banking which sometimes do not require the services of smartphones. According to the commission of Broadband, billions of people can today access banking service through their phone. Starting with the launch of mobile money transfer in Kenya otherwise known as M-pesa, almost all banks across the globe have embraced the technology of more than half the global population has benefitted from the service (Indira, et al.,017).
Transactions through mobile banking relies on the attributes of the mobile banking App as provided and naturally includes accessing account balances and statements of transaction conducted over a period of time (Indira, et al.,017). The Apps allow the users to do remote check deposits, funds transfers, electronic bill payments, and P2P payments, between a customer's or another's accounts. Figure 2 below shows the data on extent of global mobile banking services. The statistic presents the prevalence of mobile banking users worldwide from 2010 to 2015. The share of the population from adopting and benefiting mobile banking globally has grown from 9% in 2010 to 30% in 2015 (Broadband Commission, 2018). According to the banker, mobile banking lowers the cost of handling transactions. Additionally, currencies involved in mobile banking can never be fake, and therefore it is more secure.

Figure 2: Share of mobile banking users worldwide from 2010 to 2015
Source: (The Words Bank, 2018)
Governance
Public participation has been made easier through mobile phone technology. UNICEF for example uses U-Report program through which it can send text messages to more than 1 million of its members at the same time. The same technology is use to gather information, from people, in 15 countries. The technology is. Presently used by many organizations like education institution, banks, and insurance companies to reach out to their members. The development of mobile Apps has even made it easier for customers to reach out to service providers. Ubber service for instance is fully dependent smartphone technology (GSM Association, 2018). The same applies to banks, education institutions, agricultural service institutions, and businesses. Many have developed their mobile Apps through which their customers, stakeholders and shareholders can reach them and engage them concerning their services. For example, The Grameen Foundation’s e-Warehouse project in Kenya trains farmers on how they can correctly store their produce while. In Turkey, Vodafone’s Farmers’ Club unites free information with reports and a members-only market place. The program has developed and attracts more than 900,000 active users (Onyango, & Kesa, 2018)
According to UN Broadband Commission swiftly advancing digital technologies and new business opportunities, the digital economy is growing rapidly. The number of total Internet users remains growing powerfully, with annual Internet growth rates above 5%. 3G and 4G have not just connected people but connected then more affordable, effectively and very efficiently. People can now reach each other from almost all parts of the word (GSM Association (2018). The only challenge is the environmental concerns particularly with regards to pollution from the toxic, and radioactive wastes that is getting pumped into the environment. Urgent and comprehensive measures must be taken to save the situation lest the earth turns against its inhabitants.
Digital Industrialization
Industries are adopting mobile phone technologies AI in all five enabling technologies, namely, investment, infrastructure, innovation, inclusivity. Consequently, a lot of transformation has been witnessed in traditional connectivity into Intelligent Connectivity to keep under control, economic opportunities and new innovation. Modern business simulations, products and services, and processes are propping up every time. Subsequently, growth towards a digital economy worth some US$23 trillion by 2025 and emergence of new economic growth cycle is anticipated. Additionally, digital economy has grown 2.5 times faster than global GDP in the last 15 years (Gupta, 2018)
Conclusion
Mobile phone revolution has drastically changed the narrative not, just in communication but also in education, entertainment, research, governance and business. The impacts of the same have been economic growth in terms of global GDP per capita, improved quality of life, improved speed of connectivity and globalization. USA has particularly adopted the technologies in almost all aspects of their live, Canada has not been left out. The whole worlds in in the 4th phase of revolution. Nonetheless, care has to be taken about the environmental concern.