[img_assist|nid=25875|title=José María Álvarez-Pallete, Telefónica COO|desc=|link=popup|align=left|width=251|height=165]

Telefónica UK has released the results of the largest ever global survey of Generation Y Millennials aged 18 to 30. Working with the Financial Times, the network operator spoke to more than 12,000 young people across 27 countries in six regions.

They found 76 per cent of this ‘always on’ group now owns a smartphone – this is highest in Asia, at 83 per cent, and lowest in Central and Eastern Europe, at 60 per cent.

68 per cent of those surveyed believe that they have the opportunity to be an entrepreneur, while 79 per cent believe the best days of their country are yet to come. “This ‘yes I can’ attitude is very refreshing,” said  José María Álvarez-Pallete, Chief Operating Officer of Telefónica, who outlined the findings at the launch event. “It is very different from a generation ago.”

Telefónica claims to have identified a new kind of elite – 11 per cent of Millennials globally – who are not defined by metrics like socioeconomic status, but by their access to technology and opportunity. While their immediate priorities are the same – family, school and friends come first – 44 per cent of these leaders believe access to technology is important to success, compared to 30 per cent overall. “These people are at the cutting edge of technology and highly interested in what happens around them from a political standpoint. Politicians around the world must see that technology is going to influence the future. This is not just for government but for business leaders too,” he said.

Tech skills are critial for work, say UK Millennials

The UK’s young people are more tech savvy than their global counterparts, the survey found, where 49 per cent say they have an excellent knowledge of technology compared to just 30 per cent worldwide. Education in technology is now seen as more important than any other subject, with 25 per cent saying it is critical to future success, compared to economics and science both at 18 per cent, or languages with just eight per cent. 76 per cent believe technology makes it easier to get a job. 

But a “new gender gap” was outlined by Álvarez-Pallete, with men around the world much more likely to consider themselves at the cutting edge of tech – 80 per cent vs 69 per cent of women. They are also more likely to say technology has been influential in shaping their outlook – 39 per cent vs 22 per cent – and to say tech is the most important factor to ensuring future success – 42 per cent vs 29 per cent.

Global bandwith race, says former Obama advisor

Julian Genachowski, former chairman of the US telecoms regulator the FFC and head of Obama’s tech strategy during the 2008 election, offered his thoughts on the results to the FTs  Sarah Gordon in a keynote interview. “The mobile revolution will change so many things around the world in the next 10 years we can only begin to imagine,” he said.

He argued that we are now engaged in a “global bandwidth race” as the internet become the “general purpose technology” of the 21st century just as electricity was the platform during the “appliance century”. Instead of fridges, TVs and radios, the broadband world is about applications. During 2011 and 2012, the US installed more fibre optic cable than the whole of Western Europe combined and only less than China. Genachowski said that Barack Obama was very conscious that the US had fallen behind on broadband connectivity and 3G. Although that has been rectified, he said: “In this new world it would be dangerous to think that because any other country or region had a lead on a particular metric at a particular time that that is set in stone – it’s not.

“This is great news for consumers and great news for early stage entrepreneurs: the Millennials who have the next big idea to change the world and the Millennials who want to change their neighbourhood.”

Haves and have nots

The internet is now crucial for creating jobs, along with finding a job, applying for a job, and more often than not, doing a job. “More than 75 per cent of Fortune 500 companies in the US do all of their job posting online. Broadband internet, wired and wireless, is today a platform for economic activity and for reforming areas like education and healthcare,” Genachowski said. But he also highlighted that fewer than 1bn people have access to the internet worldwide. “We are going to go to 5bn broadband connections in, if you’re an optimist five years, if you’re a pessimist 10 years, but it’s going to happen.”

Álvarez-Pallete explained why Telefónica UK conducted the survey. “For a company like us, we need to understand what’s going to happen for our industry and for our customers. This is the largest technological revolution in human history and Millennials are the drivers. We deeply believe that we need to understand what’s going on to have an idea of what the future will look like.”

“In every region, the smartphone is the natural access to internet for Millennials. The smartphone revolution is going to be the mobile revolution.”