Over 300 Million People across 49 Countries have Gigabit Internet Availability

Gigabit internet is now available to 301 million people across 49 countries, according to the latest data in the Gigabit Monitor from VIAVI Solutions. The volume of gigabit internet deployments has increased by 38 percent since May 2017. This means that 4.2 percent of the global population now has gigabit internet available to them.

Notably, the number of people with access to gigabit LTE has surged to 74 million, based on large-scale deployments across a number of countries, including the United States, South Korea and China, over the past few quarters. These deployments have turned gigabit LTE into the second most widely available form of gigabit internet, after fiber. Globally, fiber has increased its global share of gigabit deployments to 90.4 percent, however this includes a large volume of micro scale deployments, predominantly in the United States, where populations as small as 300 people are being served with gigabit internet.

Interestingly, the number of hybrid fiber coaxial (HFC) deployments each quarter is also now tracking closely with fiber rollouts, whereas fiber deployments outpaced HFC up until 2016.

“It is fascinating to see how public and private companies, and even governments are pushing for gigabit internet to become an economic enabler for their customers, citizens or their own businesses,” said Sameh Yamany, Chief Technology Officer, VIAVI Solutions. “During the last 12 months, gigabit internet deployments have increased by 38 percent, demonstrating that the global pace of deployment is progressing strongly.”

“Beyond the top-line figures, the major story that we are seeing is how the shape of gigabit internet provision is changing,” Yamany continued. “For the first time, gigabit LTE has now become a significant force in gigabit provision, as 74 million people around the globe have access to it. But whether it is fiber, HFC, LTE or 5G in the near future, the onus is on service providers to ensure that the hoped-for speeds and experience match consumer expectations, which requires a robust discipline of network monitoring, testing and troubleshooting.”