Tech waves touted to reshape Metro Vancouver: Deloitte analyst
Credit to Author: Randy Shore| Date: Wed, 22 Jan 2020 00:33:11 +0000
For all our outdoorsy, two-wheeled bravado, Vancouverites aren’t terribly committed to commuting by bicycle compared to European cities with a similar climate.
But with basic e-bikes dipping under $1,000, we might just start to live up to our own hype.
“Only 2.3 per cent of Vancouverites regularly take their bikes to work,” said Deloitte research and technology director Duncan Stewart. “You would expect it to be higher, but there are a lot of people here who simply won’t ride.”
Compare that embarrassing number to Copenhagen, where about 62 per cent of citizens commute by bicycle to work, school or university, according to the City of Copenhagen.
“The difference is that Copenhagen is flat as a pancake and we are hilly,” he said. “The growth we are seeing in e-bikes will change that. Some Canadian stores are saying sales are up 10 times in the past year, which is ahead of strong growth globally.”
E-bikes will pull way more people out of gas-powered cars than electric cars, he predicted.
“By 2023, over 12 times as many e-bikes will be in transportation fleets around the world as there are now,” he said.
Technological transformation will also change the city in less visible ways.
Vancouver will be among the first markets in Canada to get access to 5G data service in partnership with Huawei, according to Telus Mobility. Rogers is also rolling out 5G in Vancouver and at UBC.
That will mean faster Internet service on smartphones and personal wireless devices. But wait, there’s more.
Hundreds of low-Earth orbit satellites will be launched this year, many of them privately owned, and that will extend cellular and data services to remote and poorly served parts of B.C.
Vancouverites David Mallory and his wife Deb enjoy riding their e-bikes in 2019.
“You don’t have to get too far from Vancouver — think between Squamish and Lillooet — before access to high-speed data are pretty much nonexistent,” he said.
There will be about 700 broadband satellites in orbit by the end of the year, with some owned by SpaceX and OneWeb meant to serve northern latitudes.
Governments and businesses will also roll out their own private 5G networks, “in particular companies looking for fast data and voice communication with far more security than they can get from telcos like Rogers and Telus.”
“Picture the Port of Vancouver having its own 5G network, faster, more secure,” said Stewart. “Likewise for hospitals who don’t want to put patient data at risk. Setting up a private network is a way of ensuring that it doesn’t end up in the wrong hands.”
5G could also be used to automate factories and mills, with little risk of outside interference.
While some older customers are breaking with their long-time cable providers, plenty of younger customers may never get hitched at all.
And it’s all thanks to an old technology that has enjoyed a significant upgrade — your TV antenna. Already 10 per cent of British Columbians get some or all of their television service by antenna, but not those old rabbit ears, said Stewart.
“People have been cutting the cord — cancelling their cable — and the assumption has been that they were gone, never coming back and not watching TV anymore,” he said. “That’s not the case.”
Rather than committing $1,000 or $2,000 a year for a cable bundle, you can get local TV with a $30 or $40 antenna and then supplement with a few streaming services such as Netflix.
That will give local broadcasters access to a group of customers who aren’t going to fast-forward through the ads when they watch TV, and that’s a viewer that advertisers will value, he said.
Stewart is touring Canada giving talks to roll out Deloitte’s 19th annual Technology, Media and Telecommunications Predictions.
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