Digital 7 is needed to maintain and expand connectivity, as well as how they can work together to share each other's experiences and to develop standards together. Citing a Cisco figure, the D5 expects over 50 billion internet connected devices to be in use around the world by 2020, with as many as dozens of each device in every household. To meet these needs, the UK government's focus will be on Machine to Machine technology, the Internet of Things and 5G mobile networks. In March 2014, they announced they will be investing £45 million in the Internet of Things. They have set
Smart meter homes. This was well behind schedule to hit the government’s target to have 50 million in place by 2020. As of August 2018, 11 million SMETS1 devices were functioning normally, with 637,000 in "dumb" mode, according to the government. 42 million remained to be installed by the 2020 deadline. Until 2018, the vast majority of smart meters being installed were "first generation" SMETS1 types. If a user of one of these meters switches electricity supplier, the meter’s smart functions are lost, and it must be read manually. SMETS2 meters allow easy switching and better remote reading, but only 450 had