KEY ISSUES FOR DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION IN THE G20

technologies through the collective contributions of individuals in industry, academia, and government. These
types of standards provide the underpinnings of social well-being, and their value and necessity are coming
into sharper focus in the age of globalisation.
IEEE 802.11, more commonly referred to as Wi-Fi, is an IEEE standard for communications in wireless
networks that is voluntarily deployed around the world, and whose technology has become ubiquitous. It has
generated significant market growth and impact through innovation, providing economies of scale.
The Wi-Fi market is expected to show tremendous growth in the next five years. The hotspot 2.0 and IEEE
802.11c Wave 2 will offer great revenue generation opportunities for the mobile service operators (MSOs).
The usage of IEEE 802.11ac is becoming a common standard for service providers, mostly used for smart
devices to connect with each other via Wi-Fi. Wi-Fi standards are important for the ISPs to maintain and
understand its limits. The standards offer uninterrupted Internet speed and service to the consumers.
The upcoming changes and advancements in the wireless standards will only offer better Internet experience
to the consumers. Compared to the mature markets such as North America, the Asia-Pacific and Latin
American regions are expected to grow at quite high rates in the next five years with compound annual
growth rates of 22.6% and 20.2%, respectively.
The growth rate of the Wi-Fi market in the Asia-Pacific is propelled by factors such as high development in
wireless and smart devices, increase in construction of smart highways and cities, and increasing government
participation and support, among others. In developing countries such as China, India, and Brazil, among
others, the deployment and usage of Wi-Fi is increasing due to intervention and support of the government.
The wireless hotspots for the citizens have been booming in these developing countries.
Citizens in many countries such as the United States and Singapore, among others, have been offered
municipality networks to stay connected and use this connectivity during any crisis or emergency situation.
The local and regional police departments are benefiting from the city-wide municipality networks and
hotspots deployed. The companies in the Wi-Fi market are thriving to offer the largest Wi-Fi network in
various countries, starting with the United States and Canada. Various cities such as Boston, Chicago,
Houston and Philadelphia, among others, have municipality networks deployed on public transportations to
increase the ridership and offer better travel experience to the public (MarketsandMarkets, 2015).
Standardisation processes that are universally open and transparent from the beginning can help establish
trust in platform adoption and use, which in turn can strengthen the “network effects” of digital platforms. The
voluntary standards-development paradigm also serves as a best practice model grounded in a bottom-up
and market-led approach to provide open access and respond quickly to the accelerating pace of technology
change and shifts in markets.
Voluntary standards are often driven by the private sector, in which private-sector actors work across the
various SDOs, trade associations, consortia, or alliances in the standards ecosystem. In times of accelerated
rates of technology development and convergence, the private sector is often better suited than governments
to develop standards in many areas. However, the emerging explicit intersection of ethics and technology in
the field of standardisation demands new models of open and collective collaborations, with inclusion of new
actors.