State of the Internet: Globally, Broadband Continues to Grow

Akamai, a company that has built a content delivery network that spans the globe, will soon be releasing the latest edition of its "State of The Internet" report, which looks at some of the key Internet developments, including growth in network speeds, actual connections and the number of web sites. Akamai observed a nearly 5 percent increase (from the fourth quarter of 2008) globally in the number of unique IP addresses connecting to its network. In the first quarter of 2009, one-fifth of the Internet connections around the world were at speeds greater than 5 Mbps, up 5 percent from the prior quarter and nearly 30 percent higher than the first quarter of 2008. WiMAX is gaining traction around the planet. Many of us focus on Clearwire in the U.S. and often overlook the growth of WiMAX in emerging economies such as Eastern Europe, the Baltics and Africa. Plans for four new submarine cables were announced that would bring more bandwidth to the African continent, which is also seeing a massive mobile phone boom, thus driving the need for more bandwidth. Fiber networks to consumer homes and businesses are growing at a rapid speed in places such as Europe and Asia.