According to some figures released by researcher Nemertes, Internet performance could start to decline by 2010 due to a growing gap between access capacity and demand, unless backbone providers invest up to $137 billion in upgrades to current broadband networks - more than double what ISPs plan to invest, according to the study. Nemertes bases its conclusions on current consumer demand for bandwidth and internet infrastructure.
"Our findings indicate that although core fiber and switching/routing resources will scale nicely to support virtually any conceivable user demand, Internet access infrastructure, specifically in North America, will likely cease to be adequate for supporting demand within the next three to five years."
Video and peer-to-peer file sharing have unleashed an explosion of content for which apparently telecoms haven't prepared well to deal with. Service providers don't appreciate how fast bandwidth demand is growing and proof of that is the Comcast controversy that has been running around the news lately.