Cell phones that send and retreive e-mail. PDAs that link up to a corporate intranet through a virtual private network. A lap top that hooks up to the Internet using a cell phone as a modem.
They called it The National Dream. But to many it was more than a mere vision, it was a necessity for the young nation of Canada to connect itself. And in 1885, the government-commissioned company, Canadian Pacific finally drove the last spike at Craigellachie, B.C., completing the first railway to cross the country.
A growing trend in international cities to build their own fibre optic networks may spell the end of the current race between carriers to get their own fibre conduits into the ground.