Gigabit internet extends global reach
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Editor
| 20 November 2019

The VIAVI Gigabit Monitor for 2019 has found that that gigabit internet is now available to 5% of the global population, an estimated 354 million people across 51 countries.

The survey found that the US was the global gigabit leader, with gigabit internet available to 68.5 million people, an additional four million since August 2018. China was not far behind, overtaking South Korea as the country with the second largest availability of gigabit internet. In China, gigabit internet is now available to 61.5 million people, up a staggering 41 million since August of last year.

South Korea had gigabit access for 46.9 million, Spain with 30.1 million and Canada with 15.9 million. When coverage was considered as a percentage of population, Singapore was the global leader with gigabit internet available to 95% of its population. Only two new gigabit countries, Bahrain and Malaysia, came online over the last twelve months. This number was eight a year ago.

One of the key themes identified by the survey was the gradual shift away from wired gigabit internet provision toward wireless technologies. As gigabit-capable 5G networks go live around the world, cellular technology’s share of gigabit internet provision has increased with a corresponding drop in fibre’s share.

Yet VIAVI also noted that such top-line observations regarding wireless bely the fact that fibre remains the backhaul infrastructure of choice across most cellular, cable and telecom networks, making in its opinion fibre a critical, if sometimes hidden, component for the majority of gigabit internet providers.

“As commercial 5G networks are rolled out in greater numbers, the pace of this transition will escalate radically and soon reach a tipping point,” observed VIAVI chief technology officer Sameh Yamany, commenting on the Gigabit Monitor. “Yet even with the global rise of 5G networks, the importance of testing and troubleshooting fibre will remain paramount as mobile operators deploy more and more fibre-based network infrastructure.”