It’s tempting to talk up ‘David and Goliath’ allusions but in reality there is no contest. But that reality is not yet apparent to everyone – particularly the loyal fans of the aging heavyweight.

And it’s true that he has lasted longer in the ring than any of us might have imagined.   Somehow, maybe because those fans have invested so much, maybe because of fond memories of his past glories, it now seems almost unbelievable that his career is ending.

Some even say that he should have quit earlier – to spare us all the pain of watching him clinging on and blocking the progress of new rivals.

And it really shouldn’t be a contest anyway.  It doesn’t make sense to match an aging heavyweight against a lightweight. But, it seems, it’s not just the end of an era for our old hero – we are throwing away the rule book as well.

The fans of the new lightweight champion cannot comprehend how the old boy manages to hang on in there. They can understand why his backers seem determined to have him carry on – they have too much invested and need time to find a new easy-money-spinner. He’s been around for so long. Maybe, they guess, the backers of the aging champ simply cannot imagine a world without their old friend ‘Chronic’. And probably the old guys don’t understand the new deal on audience participation. Most probably they are stuck with thinking the world is for watching, not for living!

It may be frustrating. Fans of the new lightweight may be getting impatient but what calms their nerves is knowing that there is, in reality, no contest. They are already on the winning side. Now the only battle is how long it takes for victory to be declared.

For the new hero, ‘Superfit’, the fight is not about brute strength – although amazingly he can pack a terrific punch without, it seems, using much energy. No; his real strength is buried in his name and in the legend tattooed across his back, Commoditas in Propositum. He is, truly, an all-purpose fighter that more folk find more useful – not just for entertainment but for fighting all manner of battles.

No wonder then that the old guard wish he’d never been born! No wonder they are scrambling to try and add a little bit of this new chap’s lightness to their aging relic of a fast-fading era. No wonder they are trying to hang on in there, to reassure the fans and say there is yet life in the old dog.

But, in truth, there is no contest. This is now the time of the great switch-over. It’s time to let Chronic Copper depart in peace and allow Superfit Fibre to get on with lighting up all our lives.

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This editorial was written for the UK's Communications Management Association (CMA) whose members, in aggregate, spend over £13bn per annum on communications goods and services.

Readers of this editorial also read 'Communicating Communications', 'Searching for Economic Growth Hormones' and 'This is not an Upgrade'.

Readers from Northern Ireland also read 'Seeing the light - the final switchover'.