|
Global revenue from high-speed internet services will reach nearly $903 billion annually by 2012. Broadband services, which are becoming increasingly ubiquitous for consumers and businesses around the world, currently brings in some $590 billion per year. Projections are based on the concept of an “Anywhere” broadband environment, where there is at least one high-speed internet connection for every person on the planet, according to a recent study by Yankee Group.
The Anywhere revolution is gathering in steam it took 10 years for the internet to reach 1 billion people, and predictions show that web penetration would double yet again between now and 2012. Consumer-oriented services will continue to account for the lion’s share of global revenue, generating $681 billion in 2012 (up from $435 billion this year). In order to continue funding massive network expansion carriers will need to be creative in developing new revenue streams, such as advertising.
Japan, Sweden, and Italy will be some of the first countries to reach the “tipping point” of an Anywhere economy within the next year. The United States, meanwhile, lags somewhat behind, and is classified by broadband researchers as a “transforming country.” The widespread availability of Anywhere broadband will eventually revolutionize economies in much the same way as electricity, which initially powered light bulbs, but its application quickly expanded, allowing for a multitude of new devices and products.
They developed a "Broadband Quality Score" for each nation based on internet speed both downloading and uploading, the loss of packets of data and latency - a measure of the delays in information routing. The study focused on countries in Europe, North America, the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), Brazil, Russia, India and China (Brics). Their research found that more than half of those countries had broadband connections good enough to deliver consistent quality for most common web applications today. Researchers put the success of Sweden and the Netherlands in Europe down to those countries' "increasing investments in fiber and cable network upgrades, coupled with competition diversity, and supported by strong government vision and policy".
|
