The infrastructure to usher in the brave new world of interactive multimedia applications is being put in place at a breakneck pace in the US, and Englewood, Colorado cable television operator Tele-Communications Inc has just announced plans to invest $1,900m to install fibre optic cable in 250 cities, towns and counties by 1996. The company calls the project its Infostructure Network, and it will involve it laying 7,000 miles of fibre this year alone, which it sees being used for home shopping services, software delivery, movie offerings and interactive educational programming as well as up to 500 television channels. It currently has four hubs in Pittsburgh, Miami, Denver and the San Francisco area and plans to start other hubs in Chicago, Salt Lake City, St Louis, and Hartford, Connecticut in 1993.
