Gigabit connections to rise tenfold in 2016, says Deloitte

Driven by telecommunication company and cable providers like AT&T and Comcast, the number of gigabit Internet connections is projected to rise tenfold to 10 million by the end of 2016, with residential connections accounting for about 70 percent of the total, says Deloitte Global. The research firm said that rising demand will be fueled by increasing availability and a decline in broadband service prices. In 2015, Deloitte noted that the number of Gbps tariffs almost doubled in just three quarters, from just over 80 to more than 150. The 10 million subscribers are likely to be a portion of 250 million customers expected to be on networks capable of gigabit speeds by the end of 2016.

Pricing for gigabit services has continued to drop over the past three years. As of the end of 2012, the average entry level price was over $400. This is in contrast to the end of the third quarter of 2015, where the average had fallen to under $200, and the lowest package from Singtel was priced at under $50. Deloitte predicts that there will be 600 million subscribers on networks offering a gigabit tariff by 2020, or over half of the world's connected homes.