Bandwidth Usage Increases as Infrastructure Grows

After the telecom bubble burst in the early 2000s, networks took a huge hit. Without the capital to lay new cable, Internet infrastructure did not get better and bandwidth usage stayed about the same.

According to analyst TeleGeography, things have gotten better. The research service, which tracks 224 network operators and 221 underwater cables, says that greater investment in Internet architecture, most notably the building of more coast-to-coast submarine cables, resulted in a 64% increase in international bandwidth usage last year. That means we downloaded more movies, music, and visited more websites than ever before.

As bandwidth demand increases, network providers are beefing up their systems. This year, more than 60% of American providers plan on laying fiber optic cable. Telecoms will build 16 new undersea cables.

Such growth hasn’t been seen since 2001, right before the economy went bust. Despite worse economic conditions now, web architecture investment is surprisingly higher than ever.

Photo: Flickr