AFI BLOG: Media and Technology

BusinessWeek

Growth in broadband traffic may mean we reach the limit of the Internet’s physical capacity by 2010, according to AT&T. Investment in infrastructure is needed

The US telecoms giant AT&T has claimed that, without investment, the internet’s current network architecture will reach the limits of its capacity by 2010.

Speaking at a Westminster eForum on web 2.0 this week in London, Jim Cicconi, vice president of legislative affairs for AT&T, warned the current systems that constitute the internet will not be able to cope with the increasing amounts of video and user-generated content being uploaded.

He said: “The surge in online content is at the centre of the most dramatic changes affecting the internet today. In three years’ time, 20 typical households will generate more traffic than the entire internet today.”

Cicconi, who was speaking at the event as part of a wider series of meetings with UK government officials, said at least $55bn worth of investment was needed in new infrastructure in the next three years in the US alone, with the figure rising to $130bn to improve the network worldwide. He said: “We are going to be butting up against the physical capacity of the internet by 2010.”

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