General purpose technology

"Technological progress drives long-term economic growth. As economists Timothy Bresnahan and Manuel Trajtenberg explained in a 1995 paper, 'Whole eras of technical progress and economic growth appear to be driven by a few key technologies, which we call General Purpose Technologies (GPTs). The steam engine and the electric motor may have played such a role in the past, whereas semiconductors and computers may be doing as much in our era. GPTs are characterized by pervasiveness (they are used as inputs by many downstream sectors), inherent potential for technical improvements, and innovative complementarities, meaning that the productivity of R&D in downstream sectors increases as a consequence of innovation in the GPT. Thus, as GPTs improve they spread throughout the economy, bringing about generalized productivity gains.' The report continued, 'As use of the GPT grows, its effects become significant at the aggregate level, thus affecting overall growth.'[3]

"The Internet has the characteristics of a GPT.[4] Businesses of all kinds and sizes use it to improve their processes, from procurement to supply chain management, market research to sales and asset management to customer support. It has driven performance improvements; for example, the average U.S. broadband connection speed has grown more than 20% per year for the last several years. These improvements are driving technology and business innovation in several other sectors, including health care,[5] education,[6] energy,[7] online commerce[8] and the government.[9]"

Source
Federal Communications Commission, Connecting America: The National Broadband Plan 29 (Feb. 2009).